Pope Cements Position to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It is difficult to determine how much of the English team's practice fixture will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes campaign begins a short distance away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in importance and environment – but if it achieved nothing more than enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the effort valuable.

England's No 3 – this fact is surely absolutely certain – followed his initial innings century by scoring another 90 in the second, and the most impressive was not merely the number of scored runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. On occasion the player seemed commanding, striking a dozen boundaries and a couple of sixes, timing the ball beautifully but with devilish determination.

It was only a practice match versus a Lions squad that used fully 11 bowlers throughout a game played in amid a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was still very noteworthy. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a stream of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root made additional points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more convincing, before being confused and duly out by Jacks. Brook suffered an identical outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have encountered some of the hitting he faced rather challenging. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not completely poor was surely far from intimidating.

After the sixth of that period, the English side's remaining three pitchers had conceded roughly the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a slightly less giving later on, giving up 27 from his final six. He took a single wicket, taking a smart, low-down grab, leaning to his right, to end Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for managing merely three runs in the opening knock, was among a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' leading batsmen. McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than those from their number three: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their follow-up, taking 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five and a couple maximums, each against Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who held a bending grab at ankle height.

Cox displayed comparable reliability, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played several outstandingly elegant shots on the way, such as a straight drive and a hook off consecutive Brydon Carse deliveries to attain his 50 runs.

After missing the first day of this fixture with a stomach issue and made only the most minor of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered excellently when eventually given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.

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