The Ashes is underway and Ollie Pope is one of the 4CAST athletes trying to wrestle the famous urn back from Australia.
The England batter was preparing for the second Test in Brisbane when the latest issue of The Edge dropped - and that prep work includes a nutrition programme that will help Ollie peak for the day-night match at the Gabba.
We caught up with Ollie for an exclusive chat on The Edge, and in this latest instalment he tells us about his fuelling strategy for cricket - and his go-to cheat meals when he's off-duty.
Ollie, how do you make sure that your energy peaks during matches?
I think for me the main thing is just the timing of it all.
When I'm playing T20s, that's probably what I struggle with a little bit more because obviously your game starts at 7pm. So for me it's trying to make sure I'm not feeling too sluggish, but also I don't get halfway through the game at half eight and start feeling hungry and a bit weak.
But then in a Test match, I've kind of found a pretty good routine. I'm an early riser, so when I'm staying in the hotels, I'll always try to go down to breakfast early and have my eggs and some toast and probably really load up in the morning at around, I don't know, maybe half seven to eight.
And then I know by the time we start at 11, I'm fuelled up, but I'm also not feeling too full, so I'm feeling quite sharp and fresh and ready to get out there.
What do you not like eating but you have to eat it anyway?
I always find that I struggle with slightly heavier foods.
I guess the protein side of things and the meats is what I find harder to eat during the days, especially when it's hot.
I just try and get the pastas in and that kind of thing but yeah, just the heavier food is always hard because, you know, the turnarounds are fairly quick.
If you've got 40 minutes for lunch, I'll find it slightly tougher to eat big bits of chicken. So sometimes salmon is really good and fish just feels a little bit lighter.
If I do that I don't feel too sluggish when I go back out there.
Let's assume you're not playing cricket. What do you eat when you can eat whatever you want?
Oh, like a cheat meal?! Well, the go to cheat meal for me would probably be pizza.
I actually think Pizza Express is severely underrated. The Pollo ad Astra with the Romana base is probably my cheat meal go to.
And if you're at home and you're having to cook yourself, what's the Ollie Pope signature dish?
Salmon. So that's my go to, salmon with goat's cheese and red chilli jam with some sweet potato fries and some veg as well.
That's my stock standard, go-to meal that I'll cook if I'm either on my own or yeah, just chilling. Chilling in my place.
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