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

It's difficult to know how relevant of England's practice fixture will end up being meaningful when their Ashes series contest starts a short distance away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in import and environment – but if it managed only enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the exercise valuable.

England's number three batsman – that much is certainly totally certain – followed his initial innings century by notching a further 90 in the second, and the truly impressive was not so much the total of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. At times the young batsman appeared imperious, smashing a dozen boundaries and a two of maximums, timing the ball perfectly but with fierce intent.

It was just a friendly against a England Lions squad that employed fully 11 pitchers throughout a contest played in before a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was still very praiseworthy. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 after the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand once Smith hurried the team past the winning target with a series of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining big first-innings performers, both failed in the follow-up, while Joe Root scored additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more assured, prior to being confused and duly bowled by Jacks. Brook suffered an same outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have faced some of the batting he confronted quite aggressive. His opening six deliveries against the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to bowling that if not completely poor was certainly not very threatening.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's three other pitchers had given away roughly the identical total of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a little less leaky in time, giving up 27 from his last six. He secured one wicket, taking a sharp, low-down snare, falling to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring merely a small score in the initial innings, was one of three half-centurions in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their number three: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their second, taking 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five fours and two maximums, both from Bashir's's bowling. Bethell reached 68 prior to a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who made a low catch at ankle height.

Cox showed similar reliability, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at just over a scoring rate of one. There were a few outstandingly elegant hits during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a hook against back-to-back Carse balls to attain his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the initial day of this match with a stomach issue and made just the most minor of efforts to the follow-up, Carse bowled brilliantly when eventually given the shot, with McKinney and Cox among his three wickets.

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