Pope Reinforces Position to England Cricket's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's difficult to determine how much of England's warm-up fixture will prove important when their Ashes campaign kicks off not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but light years away in importance and mood – but if it achieved nothing more than strengthening Ollie Pope's confidence, that alone has made the effort valuable.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is certainly absolutely clear – followed his initial innings hundred by notching a further 90 in the second, and what was notable was not so much the total of runs but the way in which they were made. On occasion the player looked commanding, hitting a twelve fours and a two of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with devilish intent.

It was just a practice match against a England Lions side that used fully 11 bowlers across a match staged in before a small group of onlookers in a local ground, but it was still very praiseworthy. Officially, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Smith hurried the team past the finish line with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' performers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root added additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more assured, then being puzzled and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an identical end a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered part of the hitting he faced pretty aggressive. His first six overs against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not completely loose was surely not very threatening.

At the end the sixth spell of those deliveries, England's other bowlers had conceded roughly the equivalent total of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a somewhat less generous as time passed, conceding 27 from his final six. He secured one wicket, taking a sharp, diving snare, diving to his right, to end Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 balls.

Bethell, compensating for scoring just three runs in the opening knock, was among three players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second innings, facing 61 balls for his half-century, with five and two six-hit shots, both against Bashir's pitching. Bethell reached 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who made a low catch at low down.

Jordan Cox exhibited like steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He played several exceptionally beautiful hits during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a pull shot against successive Carse deliveries to attain his 50 runs.

Having missed the first day of this match with a stomach upset and provided only the smallest of inputs to the second, Carse delivered excellently when at last afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three wickets.

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