Pope Reinforces Claim to England's Number Three Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is hard to determine how much of England's warm-up game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series battle starts not far at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in import and atmosphere – but if it achieved only boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that on its own has made the effort worthwhile.

The English side's number three batsman – that point is undoubtedly completely established – followed his initial innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second, and the most notable was not so much the number of runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. On occasion the 27-year-old appeared commanding, striking a dozen fours and a two of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

This was just a practice match versus a Lions team that deployed exactly 11 pitchers during a game played in amid a few dozen of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless very praiseworthy. To note, England, set a target of 202 after the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Smith hurried the team across the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings successes, both failed in the second innings, while Joe Root scored additional runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being confused and duly dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook met an similar end soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have faced some of the hitting he confronted quite hostile. His initial six overs against the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely wayward was surely not overly intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's other bowlers had conceded nearly exactly the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a somewhat less giving as time passed, allowing 27 from his final six. He took one dismissal, making a sharp, low snare, diving to his right, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring just three runs in the initial innings, was a member of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more consistent than those from their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their follow-up, facing 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, the pair from Bashir's pitching. Bethell got to 68 before a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who made a bending grab at low down.

Jordan Cox showed like consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He produced a few exceptionally elegant shots on the way, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook against successive Carse balls to reach his half century.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a illness and contributed just the smallest of contributions to the second day, Carse delivered brilliantly when finally given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.

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