Ollie Pope Cements Position to England's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to determine how significant of England's practice game will end up being relevant when their Ashes battle kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but ages away in importance and environment – but if it managed solely strengthening Ollie Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the endeavor valuable.

England's No 3 – this fact is surely totally certain – built on his initial innings century by notching a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was impressive was not merely the total of scored runs but the manner in which they were scored. Periodically the young batsman seemed dominant, striking a twelve boundaries and a couple of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with aggressive purpose.

This was merely a friendly versus a Lions team that employed a total of 11 pitchers across a match played in front of a small group of spectators in a public park, but it was still extremely noteworthy. Officially, England, set a target of 202 following the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by a margin of five wickets when Smith hurried the team past the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings' performers, both fell short in the second knock, while Root made further points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more convincing, prior to being puzzled and duly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook met an similar end a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have encountered part of the strokes he faced rather challenging. His first six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not completely poor was definitely not overly dangerous.

At the end the sixth over of those overs, England's remaining three pitchers had conceded nearly exactly the identical amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a slightly less leaky in time, allowing 27 from his final six. He took a single wicket, taking a clever, diving grab, diving to his right side, to finish Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing only three runs in the opening knock, was one of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their number three: he scored 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries to reach his half-century, with five fours and a couple sixes, both off Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who held a bending catch at shin level.

Cox displayed comparable steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with another 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He produced some remarkably elegant hits on the way, featuring a straight hit and a pull shot from consecutive Brydon Carse balls to attain his half century.

After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach upset and made just the most minor of efforts to the second, Brydon Carse delivered superbly when at last provided the shot, with McKinney and Cox included in his three dismissals.

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