Ollie Pope Strengthens Status to England Cricket's Number Three Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to gauge how relevant of England's preparatory match will be remotely important when their Ashes series battle starts a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved only enhancing Pope's confidence, that alone has made the exercise valuable.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is undoubtedly absolutely established – followed his first-innings hundred by scoring an additional 90 in the second innings, and what was remarkable was not so much the total of runs but the way in which they were made. Periodically the player appeared dominant, smashing a dozen boundaries and a two of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with fierce purpose.

It was only a practice match against a Lions team that used exactly 11 pitchers throughout a game held in amid a handful of people in a local ground, but it was nonetheless extremely praiseworthy. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith sped the team over the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two significant first-innings' performers, both failed in the second knock, while Joe Root added additional points – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being bemused and subsequently bowled by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar fate shortly after.

Bashir – who finished the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered part of the batting he confronted rather hostile. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely loose was definitely far from dangerous.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, England's other pitchers had allowed roughly the equivalent amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a somewhat less leaky in time, allowing 27 from his last six. He took a single wicket, taking a sharp, low-down catch, falling to his right side, to end Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three runs in the first innings, was among three players players with fifties in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were steadier than those from their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five fours and a couple sixes, each from Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited like steadiness, and backed up his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a run a ball. There were some remarkably beautiful shots on the way, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot from successive Carse deliveries to achieve his 50 runs.

After missing the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed only the smallest of efforts to the second, Carse pitched brilliantly when at last provided the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.

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