Ollie Pope Cements Status to England Cricket's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It is difficult to determine how much of England's warm-up game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes battle kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but ages away in import and atmosphere – but if it managed only strengthening Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the effort beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is certainly completely clear – followed his initial innings ton by adding a further 90 in the second innings, and the most impressive was not so much the quantity of scored runs but the manner in which they were scored. At times the 27-year-old looked dominant, hitting a twelve fours and a two of sixes, connecting with the ball beautifully but with fierce purpose.

It was just a friendly versus a England Lions team that used a total of 11 bowlers during a contest held in before a handful of people in a public park, but it was still extremely noteworthy. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets once Jamie Smith raced the team over the winning target with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings successes, both failed in the second innings, while Root made further runs – 31 on this time – but was far from more dominant, prior to being bemused and subsequently out by Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the fixture having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have found some of the batting he bowled to pretty hostile. His first six deliveries against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not exactly poor was certainly far from dangerous.

After the sixth spell of those overs, England's other bowlers had allowed nearly exactly the same amount of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a slightly less generous as time passed, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He claimed a single wicket, holding a smart, low-down catch, diving to his right, to end Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for scoring only a small score in the initial innings, was a member of three players half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than those of their number three: he scored 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their second, facing 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five and two six-hit shots, each from Bashir's deliveries. Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low grab at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited like steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. He played a few exceptionally beautiful shots en route, such as a straight drive and a hook against back-to-back Carse deliveries to achieve his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed only the most minor of efforts to the follow-up, Carse bowled superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with McKinney and Cox among his three wickets.

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