Pope Strengthens Position to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It's tough to know how significant of England's preparatory game will prove meaningful when their Ashes contest kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished solely boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has made the exercise worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – that point is surely totally established – built on his first-innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second, and the truly impressive was not merely the number of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. At times the young batsman seemed imperious, striking a dozen fours and a two of sixes, hitting the ball beautifully but with devilish intent.

This was only a practice match against a England Lions team that deployed a total of 11 bowlers during a match held in before a few dozen of spectators in a open field, but it was still hugely impressive. For the record, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team past the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings' performers, both failed in the follow-up, while Root added several more points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more assured, prior to being confused and subsequently bowled by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered part of the hitting he faced rather aggressive. His initial six overs against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to deliveries that if not entirely loose was certainly not very threatening.

At the end the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's other bowlers had given away nearly exactly the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a slightly less generous later on, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He took one dismissal, taking a clever, low-down snare, diving to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring merely three in the opening knock, was among a trio of fifty-scorers in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's performances from opening batsman were steadier than those of their No 3: he notched 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second innings, facing 61 deliveries to reach his half-century, with five boundaries and two maximums, the pair off Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell got to 68 then a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a low catch at shin level.

Cox showed comparable consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with another 57, at just over a run a ball. There were a few exceptionally elegant hits on the way, such as a straight drive and a pull shot against consecutive Brydon Carse deliveries to achieve his 50 runs.

Having missed the initial day of this game with a illness and contributed merely the most minor of contributions to the second, Carse bowled excellently when finally provided the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three dismissals.

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