Ollie Pope Cements Status to England Cricket's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is hard to gauge how relevant of the English team's practice match will end up being important when their Ashes campaign kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in significance and environment – but if it accomplished nothing more than boosting Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the effort worthwhile.

England's No 3 – that much is undoubtedly totally certain – followed his initial innings ton by notching another 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most impressive was not so much the number of runs but the style in which they were scored. On occasion the 27-year-old looked dominant, striking a twelve boundaries and a pair of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with devilish intent.

It was merely a friendly against a England Lions side that used fully 11 pitchers during a match staged in amid a small group of people in a local ground, but it was still hugely praiseworthy. For the record, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets once Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two big first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root made further runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more convincing, before being confused and accordingly dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook met an same outcome shortly after.

Bashir – who finished the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have encountered some of the batting he bowled to quite challenging. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not exactly loose was surely not very threatening.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's three other bowlers had conceded roughly the equivalent total of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less generous later on, allowing 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, taking a sharp, diving grab, leaning to his right side, to end Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming scoring only three runs in the opening knock, was one of three half-centurions in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than those of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries over his half-century, with five fours and a couple sixes, the pair from Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell made 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who held a low grab at shin level.

Cox displayed similar reliability, and followed his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He played some exceptionally elegant shots during his innings, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook from back-to-back Brydon Carse deliveries to attain his 50 runs.

Having missed the first day of this fixture with a illness and made just the most minor of inputs to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered superbly when eventually given the opportunity, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.

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