Pope Cements Claim to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how significant of the English team's practice match will be remotely important when their Ashes series contest begins 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but ages away in significance and environment – but if it managed nothing more than strengthening Ollie Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the exercise worthwhile.

The English side's number three batsman – this fact is undoubtedly totally established – built on his initial innings hundred by notching a further 90 in the second innings, and the truly notable was not so much the quantity of scored runs but the style in which they were made. On occasion the 27-year-old looked dominant, hitting a dozen boundaries and a pair of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with devilish purpose.

This was merely a friendly versus a Lions team that employed fully 11 pitchers across a game played in before a small group of onlookers in a local ground, but it was still extremely praiseworthy. To note, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand when Jamie Smith sped the team past the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining major first-innings successes, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root added further runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more convincing, before being confused and subsequently bowled by Jacks. Harry Brook met an same fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the match having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have encountered a portion of the batting he faced pretty hostile. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not completely wayward was definitely far from dangerous.

After the sixth spell of that period, England's three other bowlers had conceded roughly the equivalent total of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less giving in time, giving up 27 from his last six. He secured one dismissal, holding a clever, diving grab, falling to his right, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing just three in the initial innings, was among three players players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more reliable than those of their number three: he scored 66 in their first batting effort and scored 68 in their follow-up, taking 61 deliveries to reach his fifty, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, the pair from Bashir's's pitching. Bethell got to 68 prior to a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who held a low grab at low down.

Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played some remarkably elegant hits en route, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot off back-to-back Carse deliveries to achieve his half century.

Having missed the initial day of this match with a stomach upset and provided merely the most minor of efforts to the follow-up, Carse delivered excellently when finally provided the chance, with McKinney and Cox among his three scalps.

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