Ollie Pope Reinforces Status to England's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's hard to know how significant of England's preparatory fixture will end up being relevant when their Ashes series contest begins a short distance away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it achieved solely boosting Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the endeavor valuable.

England's No 3 – this fact is surely totally established – followed his initial innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly notable was not merely the number of runs but the way in which they were made. On occasion the player appeared imperious, striking a dozen fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with devilish intent.

This was only a practice match versus a England Lions squad that deployed a total of 11 bowlers throughout a match held in before a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was still hugely noteworthy. To note, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand when Smith raced the team across the finish line with a stream of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the two other major first-innings' successes, both fell short in the second knock, while Root added additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more dominant, then being confused and subsequently bowled by Jacks. Brook experienced an similar outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have faced part of the strokes he bowled to quite challenging. His first six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to pitching that if not entirely wayward was certainly far from intimidating.

At the end the sixth of those overs, England's other pitchers had allowed almost precisely the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less giving in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He secured a single wicket, making a sharp, low catch, diving to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving only a small score in the initial innings, was among a trio of half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's performances from opener were more consistent than those from their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five and a couple maximums, the pair off Bashir's's bowling. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a bending grab at shin level.

Cox displayed like consistency, and followed his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He produced a few exceptionally handsome shots en route, featuring a straight hit and a hook against back-to-back Carse balls to attain his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the opening day of this match with a illness and made just the smallest of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when at last afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three dismissals.

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