Ollie Pope Strengthens Claim to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's tough to know how relevant of England's preparatory fixture will be remotely relevant when their Ashes campaign begins 10km away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished only boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has made the exercise beneficial.

England's No 3 – that point is surely completely certain – followed his initial innings century by scoring another 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most notable was less about the number of runs but the style in which they were scored. On occasion the young batsman seemed imperious, hitting a twelve fours and a pair of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

This was just a exhibition game against a England Lions team that employed exactly 11 pitchers during a match held in before a small group of people in a open field, but it was nevertheless very impressive. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets when Jamie Smith raced the team past the finish line with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two major first-innings performers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root added further runs – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more assured, prior to being puzzled and subsequently bowled by Jacks. Brook suffered an same fate a little later.

Bashir – who ended the fixture having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have faced a portion of the batting he faced quite hostile. His opening six overs against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not completely wayward was definitely not overly intimidating.

After the sixth of those overs, the English side's three other bowlers had given away almost precisely the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a somewhat less leaky in time, giving up 27 from his final six. He took a single wicket, holding a smart, low snare, falling to his right side, to end Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing only three runs in the first innings, was a member of three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. McKinney's scores from opener were more reliable than those of their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, using 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, the pair against Bashir's bowling. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a low grab at shin level.

Cox showed similar consistency, and built on his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. There were some outstandingly elegant shots en route, including a straight hit and a hook from successive Brydon Carse balls to attain his fifty.

After missing the initial day of this match with a stomach upset and made merely the most minor of contributions to the follow-up, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually provided the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

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