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Teenage Pope ready if conditions turn his way

The pitch currently lying under tarpaulins at Adelaide Oval will dictate whether teenage leg-spinner Lloyd Pope earns his first baggy red on Tuesday

The likelihood of teenage leg-spin prodigy Lloyd Pope making his JLT Sheffield Shield debut tomorrow rests not so much with the obvious talent that resides in his right hand, but rather what lies in wait beneath the centre-wicket covers at Adelaide Oval.

With South Australia lashed by brutal squalls and fleeting storms today, the track for the four-day game – which was lowered into place less than a week ago – will dictate the West End Redbacks' line-up for their season-opener against the Blues.

If the lifting of tarpaulins reveals a pitch ripe for pace bowlers, South Australia is spoiled for options with specialist seamers Chadd Sayers, Joe Mennie, Kane Richardson and Nick Winter in their 12-man squad, as well as seam-bowling allrounder Cameron Valente.

However, if there's a hint of a role for spinners towards the game's end – and with New South Wales almost certain to deploy Test-capped tweaker Steve O'Keefe – Pope could be in line for a first-class debut less than nine months after he came to global attention at the ICC under-19 World Cup.

At age 18 years and 319 days, he would become the youngest player to earn a baggy red cap since current Test batter Travis Head debuted against Victoria in February, 2012 aged 18 years and 35 days.

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Pope's journey to the cusp of senior cricket has been fast-tracked due to the presence of SA's first-choice wrist-spinner Adam Zampa in the Australia T20 squad that departed yesterday for the white-ball portion of the Qantas Tour of the UAE.

But should Pope, whose 8-35 in the junior World Cup quarter final against England earlier this year represented the best bowling figures posted in the under-age showpiece, get the call-up his equally inexperienced captain Jake Lehmann believes he'll be ready for the challenge.

"Lloyd is an exceptional young talent," said Lehmann, who will lead SA in Head's absence having experienced his first taste of captaincy during the recently completed JLT One-Day Cup.

"We’ve seen him through the under-age programs and … if he gets an opportunity to play we’re very excited to see what he can do.

"He’s got the ability to spin the ball both ways, which is huge in this day and age."

Pope’s mastery of his bowling variations and his plume of orange hair might be his most identifiable trademarks, though not necessarily in that order.

However, his new SA teammates also note the competitive drive he brings to senior company, refusing to be daunted by the bigger names and reputations he’s pitted his skills against in the practice nets over recent months.

“I haven’t really seen a lot of him, but he’s obviously got some really good results in the under-19s last year,” Zampa told cricket.com.au recently.

“It’s a bit of step up to senior cricket, but he’s quite a competitor from what I can see.”

Lehmann, who is among the Redbacks’ regulars to have locked horns with Pope at training of late, painted an even starker image, while noting that the teenager’s will-to-win doesn’t extend to verbal gamesmanship as yet.

“I think that’s the great aspect of Lloyd, his competitiveness,” Lehmann said today.

“He’s not shy to take on the likes of Fergie (SA veteran Callum Ferguson) or Travis (Head) or myself in the nets.

“He still tosses the ball up, tries to spin it both ways and it doesn’t really matter who he’s bowling to.

“He’s pretty jovial, he’s probably a little kid in a lot of ways but he’s very mature with his bowling.”

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The fact that Zampa, Head and wicketkeeper Alex Carey are all absent from the season-opener due to their respective national commitments is a happy rarity for SA given the struggle they’ve endured to provide regular Australia representatives in past decades.

It has also paved the way for Lehmann to take on the captaincy ahead of experienced international players Ferguson and Tom Cooper, both of whom have led the side in the past two summers when Head was unavailable.

Watching the novice skipper with nervous pride from the grandstand will be Jake’s father and former Australia coach Darren Lehmann, who was barely a month younger than his son’s current 26 years and 99 days when he led the Redbacks for the first of 55 Shield games in 1996.

Jake Lehmann admits that he felt some anxiety when he took the helm for the JLT Cup campaign last month, mainly because his on-field captaincy experience was limited to a few appearances with East Torrens in Adelaide’s Premier Cricket competition.

But he believes the longer format should help ease that apprehension because it will allow him greater flexibility to utilise his potent pace attack, though he was reluctant to indicate if he might consider sending-in his revamped NSW opposition should he win tomorrow’s coin toss.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and look tomorrow morning,” Lehmann said.

“If you look back at Adelaide Oval over the last couple of years, it’s been a little bit greener and bowler friendly.

“We know what to expect, and that’s what we’re going to get with the rain around.

“I was probably a bit nervous heading into the JLT Cup, but right now I’m pretty happy.

“I think the longer format should be a little bit easier to captain.

“In white-ball cricket, the game happens pretty fast and you’ve only got 10 overs for your best bowlers to bowl.

“So I’m looking forward to having Chadd (Sayers) and Joey (Mennie) and bowling them for as long as I want them to bowl for.”

Possibly an adolescent leg-spinner, as well.

Squads – South Australia: Jake Lehmann (c), Jake Weatherald, Conor McInerney, Callum Ferguson, Tom Cooper, Cameron Valente, Harry Nielsen, Joe Mennie, Kane Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Nick Winter, Lloyd Pope (12th man to be named)

New South Wales: Peter Nevill (c), Nick Larkin, Daniel Hughes, Kurtis Patterson, Moises Henriques, Jason Sangha, Jack Edwards, Sean Abbott, Steve O’Keefe, Trent Copeland, Mickey Edwards, Daniel Sams (12th man to be named)