Pope Cements Status to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's hard to gauge how much of England's preparatory fixture will end up being relevant when their Ashes battle begins not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but ages away in significance and mood – but if it managed only boosting Ollie Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the endeavor beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is surely absolutely clear – followed his initial innings century by notching an additional 90 in the second innings, and the most notable was not so much the total of runs but the way in which they were scored. Periodically the player looked commanding, hitting a dozen fours and a two of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

It was just a practice match against a England Lions squad that employed fully 11 bowlers across a contest held in front of a few dozen of spectators in a public park, but it was still hugely noteworthy. To note, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by a margin of five wickets when Smith sped the team over the finish line with a series of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings performers, both fell short in the second innings, while Joe Root added several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more dominant, before being bemused and subsequently out by Jacks. Brook suffered an identical outcome a little later.

Bashir – who concluded the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have found part of the strokes he confronted pretty challenging. His initial six deliveries against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely loose was definitely not overly threatening.

After the sixth of those overs, England's three other pitchers had allowed roughly the equivalent number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a little less leaky in time, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He secured one dismissal, taking a clever, low catch, diving to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for scoring just a small score in the opening knock, was a member of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were steadier than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their second, taking 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, the pair against Bashir's's bowling. Bethell got to 68 before a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping grab at shin level.

Cox displayed similar steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at just over a run per delivery. He played several exceptionally elegant shots during his innings, featuring a straight hit and a hook off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to attain his 50 runs.

Having missed the opening day of this fixture with a stomach upset and made merely the smallest of inputs to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched superbly when at last given the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox part of his three wickets.

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