Pope Reinforces Status to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's tough to gauge how significant of the English team's practice match will prove important when their Ashes series battle begins 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in import and environment – but if it managed solely boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has made the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – that point is surely completely clear – followed his initial innings ton by adding an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most impressive was not so much the number of scored runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. Periodically the 27-year-old seemed commanding, hitting a twelve fours and a pair of maximums, hitting the ball perfectly but with devilish intent.

It was just a exhibition game versus a England Lions side that employed a total of 11 bowlers across a contest staged in amid a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was still very impressive. For the record, the England team, set a target of 202 following the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand once Smith hurried the team across the winning target with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings successes, both failed in the follow-up, while Root added additional points – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more convincing, then being confused and subsequently out by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an similar fate soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have encountered part of the strokes he faced quite hostile. His first six deliveries against the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to pitching that if not exactly poor was surely not very intimidating.

At the end the sixth of those overs, England's other bowlers had allowed nearly exactly the identical amount of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a slightly less giving later on, conceding 27 from his final six. He secured one wicket, taking a smart, diving snare, falling to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming managing just a small score in the initial innings, was one of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions' top order. McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than those of their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, facing 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five and two sixes, the pair off Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who took a low catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox displayed like steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. There were several outstandingly beautiful strokes on the way, including a straight hit and a pull against successive Carse deliveries to achieve his 50 runs.

Having missed the opening day of this fixture with a stomach issue and provided only the smallest of inputs to the follow-up, Carse bowled superbly when finally provided the shot, with McKinney and Cox included in his three wickets.

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