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

It is difficult to know how much of England's warm-up fixture will end up being important when their Ashes series contest kicks off not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and mood – but if it managed solely strengthening Pope's assurance, that alone has made the effort worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is surely completely certain – built on his first-innings ton by adding another 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was notable was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the style in which they were made. On occasion the young batsman looked dominant, hitting a twelve fours and a couple of maximums, hitting the ball perfectly but with fierce determination.

This was just a friendly versus a England Lions team that used a total of 11 bowlers throughout a contest staged in amid a small group of spectators in a public park, but it was still very noteworthy. To note, England, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand when Smith raced the team over the winning target with a flurry of boundaries.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' performers, both failed in the second innings, while Joe Root added several more points – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more convincing, before being puzzled and duly bowled by Jacks. Brook met an same outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have found a portion of the batting he bowled to quite aggressive. His first six deliveries against the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not exactly loose was surely not overly intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of that period, the English side's three other bowlers had given away roughly the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less generous as time passed, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He secured a single wicket, taking a clever, diving catch, diving to his right side, to end Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for achieving merely three runs in the opening knock, was a member of three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than those from their No 3: he notched 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, taking 61 balls for his fifty, with five boundaries and two sixes, the pair off Bashir's's bowling. Bethell made 68 before a mis-hit to Stokes at cover, who made a low catch at ankle height.

Cox showed comparable reliability, and followed his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. There were some outstandingly elegant shots during his innings, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot against successive Carse balls to reach his fifty.

Having missed the opening day of this fixture with a stomach upset and contributed merely the smallest of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse pitched excellently when finally provided the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.

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