Ollie Pope Reinforces Status to England's Number Three Role with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It's difficult to gauge how much of England's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series battle starts a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but ages away in import and environment – but if it achieved nothing more than boosting Ollie Pope's confidence, that on its own has rendered the exercise worthwhile.

England's No 3 – that much is undoubtedly totally clear – built on his initial innings ton by scoring an additional 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was not so much the total of scored runs but the style in which they were made. At times the player seemed commanding, hitting a dozen fours and a pair of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with aggressive determination.

This was only a exhibition game versus a Lions side that employed fully 11 bowlers throughout a game held in front of a handful of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely noteworthy. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith sped the team across the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root made further points – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being bemused and duly bowled by Jacks. Harry Brook met an similar end shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have encountered a portion of the batting he faced quite challenging. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not completely loose was surely not very dangerous.

At the end the sixth of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three pitchers had allowed roughly the identical number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less generous as time passed, conceding 27 from his last six. He secured one dismissal, holding a sharp, diving grab, diving to his right side, to end Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming achieving only three runs in the opening knock, was among a trio of fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second innings, using 61 deliveries to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two maximums, each off Bashir's's pitching. Jacob Bethell made 68 prior to a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a bending grab at shin level.

Cox displayed similar steadiness, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played several remarkably handsome shots on the way, including a straight hit and a pull shot off back-to-back Carse balls to achieve his 50 runs.

Having missed the first day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed only the smallest of inputs to the second day, Carse delivered brilliantly when finally provided the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three scalps.

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