Dodgers Player Profiles - David Pope

Saqlain Mushtaq has a dart; Muttiah Muralitharan has a Doozra; Shane Warne has a Zooter. But none of them has anything as potent a weapon as Popey's speciality ball - the Doobler. It pitches on off stump drawing the batsman forward, then pitches again on middle-and-off, forcing the batsman into an ungainly swipe across the line, then hits middle.

A desperately reluctant batsman, he has struggled in the field except for one sublime moment in the 2001 season when he trapped the ball at mid off a la Tony Currie, then stooped and threw down the stumps in one sweep. The batsman hasn't stopped shaking since. David is feared and revered in places as far apart as Buckhurst Hill and Croydon.

David didn’t weave quite as much magic with the ball in 2008 as in previous seasons but more than compensated with the champagne moment of the season – a stunning boundary against Bel End. Still waiting for that first catch and Ladbrokes are now offering a bet double with Russell Brand to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

2008

Bowling
 O  M    R  W     SR    Avg  Econ
18  0  172  3  36.00  57.33  9.56
Batting and fielding
M  I  R NO   Avg  HS  50 100  Ct St
5  2  4  1  4.00   4*  0   0   0  0

2006

Bowling
 O    M   R  W    SR   Avg  Econ
30    2 205  7 25.71 29.29  6.83
Batting and fielding
M  I   R NO    Avg  HS Ct St
8  2   0  2     --   0  0  0

2005

Bowling
O     R    W  Econ  Avg  SR
3   17  1  5.7  17.0  18.0
2004
Bowling
O     R    W  Econ  Avg  SR
27.4  150  7  5.4  21.4  23.7