Pope Strengthens Position to England's No 3 Slot with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to know how much of England's preparatory match will end up being relevant when their Ashes contest begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it managed solely strengthening Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has rendered the exercise valuable.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is surely absolutely clear – built on his first-innings hundred by adding another 90 in the second, and the most remarkable was not so much the number of runs but the manner in which they were made. At times the young batsman looked commanding, smashing a dozen boundaries and a two of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with fierce determination.

This was only a practice match against a England Lions squad that used exactly 11 pitchers across a game played in amid a small group of spectators in a local ground, but it was nevertheless very praiseworthy. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand once Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a stream of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other big first-innings successes, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root added further points – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more convincing, then being confused and accordingly dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical end shortly after.

Bashir – who finished the game having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have faced part of the batting he confronted quite hostile. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely poor was surely not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth over of those overs, England's remaining three bowlers had conceded nearly exactly the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a slightly less generous as time passed, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He took a single wicket, holding a smart, low snare, falling to his right side, to end Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for managing just a small score in the first innings, was among a trio of fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than those of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second, using 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five fours and two sixes, each off Bashir's bowling. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who held a low grab at ankle height.

Jordan Cox displayed comparable steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with another 57, at just over a scoring rate of one. He produced some exceptionally elegant strokes en route, such as a straight hit and a pull shot against successive Brydon Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

Following his absence from the initial day of this game with a illness and made only the smallest of contributions to the follow-up, Carse bowled superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three dismissals.

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