Pope Cements Claim to England's Number Three Role with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how relevant of England's warm-up game will end up being important when their Ashes campaign kicks off a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved only enhancing Ollie Pope's confidence, that alone has made the effort worthwhile.

England's No 3 – this fact is surely absolutely clear – built on his first-innings century by adding an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most impressive was not merely the quantity of runs but the style in which they were scored. Periodically the young batsman seemed imperious, striking a dozen fours and a pair of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with aggressive intent.

It was only a practice match versus a Lions team that employed fully 11 pitchers during a match staged in before a handful of people in a open field, but it was nevertheless very noteworthy. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand after Jamie Smith raced the team over the finish line with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two big first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Joe Root added additional runs – 31 on this time – but was far from more dominant, before being bemused and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an identical outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have faced a portion of the batting he faced pretty aggressive. His opening six overs against the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to pitching that if not exactly wayward was certainly not very threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's other pitchers had given away nearly exactly the identical total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less generous later on, conceding 27 from his final six. He claimed one wicket, taking a sharp, low-down snare, falling to his right side, to finish Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming managing only a small score in the first innings, was a member of three players with fifties in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's performances from opener were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he made 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their second innings, using 61 deliveries to reach his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, each against Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell got to 68 prior to a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a bending catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox displayed similar consistency, and built on his first-innings 53 with another 57, at about a scoring rate of one. There were a few remarkably beautiful hits en route, including a straight drive and a pull off successive Brydon Carse balls to attain his half century.

Following his absence from the opening day of this fixture with a illness and made merely the smallest of inputs to the second, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when at last given the chance, with McKinney and Cox part of his three wickets.

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