Pope Reinforces Claim to England's Number Three Slot with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It's difficult to gauge how relevant of the English team's warm-up match will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes series campaign kicks off a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in importance and mood – but if it achieved nothing more than boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is undoubtedly completely certain – built on his initial innings ton by adding a further 90 in the second, and the truly remarkable was not merely the quantity of runs but the way in which they were made. At times the player appeared commanding, striking a dozen fours and a couple of maximums, timing the ball perfectly but with fierce purpose.

This was only a practice match against a Lions side that deployed exactly 11 pitchers during a game staged in front of a handful of people in a open field, but it was nonetheless very praiseworthy. To note, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith raced the team over the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root scored further runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more assured, prior to being puzzled and duly out by Jacks. Brook experienced an similar outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having bowled 12 overs for each side – will have faced a portion of the strokes he bowled to rather hostile. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not entirely loose was definitely far from intimidating.

After the sixth over of that period, England's three other bowlers had given away nearly exactly the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a slightly less leaky as time passed, allowing 27 from his last six. He took a single wicket, holding a sharp, low-down grab, leaning to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring only three runs in the initial innings, was one of three players with fifties in the Lions' top order. McKinney's scores from opener were more consistent than those from their number three: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their follow-up, taking 61 balls over his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, each against Bashir's bowling. Jacob Bethell reached 68 prior to a poor shot to Stokes at cover, who held a stooping grab at shin level.

Cox exhibited similar consistency, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played some exceptionally beautiful hits en route, including a straight hit and a hook against back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his 50 runs.

Having missed the initial day of this match with a stomach issue and provided only the least significant of efforts to the second, Brydon Carse delivered excellently when eventually afforded the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three scalps.

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