Cricket: Lloyd Pope plays down comparisons to Shane Warne after eight-wicket haul

Lloyd Pope's career as a leg-spinner began from imitating Australian great Shane Warne in the nets against his dad.

But the young Australian says the comparisons between himself and the 708 test wicket-taker take him by surprise.

Pope drew plenty of attention after finishing with 8-35 as Australia beat England to progress to the semifinal of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

His performance saw him receive a lot of attention on social media, including from Warne himself.

Well bowled young man ! Enjoy the moment & congrats again 👍 https://t.co/4OJuhfb9kG

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) January 23, 2018

Speaking to Radio Sport, Pope said it was all a bit surreal.

"Shane Warne tweeting about me - it's all really, really, really weird."

Pope admitted it was probably the best he's ever bowled, but said that kind of thing was hard to judge.

"Sometimes you bowl really well and don't take a wicket, then you can bowl really, really badly and take five. But it's probably the best spell I've had, everything was working."

However it wasn't his first big haul.

Pope's leg-spin career began at the under-12 age level. After trying to imitate Warne in a net session with his father, he then bowled it in a match and took six wickets in his two allotted overs.

While he said he had started as a leg-spinner by imitating Warne, Pope said he looks to add parts of a number of Australian greats into his own game, rather than just one.

"I tend to bowl a bit different to Shane, because I don't turn the ball as much and have a few different variations,' he said.

"I tend to grab a mix from everyone really. If you can pick parts from each bowler and what they do best, that's where I get my stuff from."