Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to know how relevant of the English team's preparatory match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes contest kicks off not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and mood – but if it accomplished only boosting Ollie Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the endeavor worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that much is certainly completely clear – built on his initial innings century by notching an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was notable was less about the quantity of runs but the way in which they were accumulated. On occasion the young batsman seemed dominant, hitting a dozen fours and a two of sixes, hitting the ball beautifully but with fierce purpose.

This was just a practice match versus a England Lions side that deployed fully 11 pitchers across a contest held in front of a small group of onlookers in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely impressive. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 once the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' successes, both failed in the second innings, while Root scored further points – 31 on this instance – but was far from more assured, before being bemused and duly bowled by Jacks. Brook suffered an similar outcome shortly after.

Bashir – who ended the fixture having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have found part of the strokes he faced quite aggressive. His first six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not exactly wayward was surely far from intimidating.

At the end the sixth of that period, the English side's other bowlers had conceded almost precisely the equivalent amount of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a somewhat less generous later on, conceding 27 from his final six. He claimed one dismissal, taking a sharp, diving snare, diving to his right side, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming managing merely three in the initial innings, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their second, taking 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five and a couple sixes, the pair against Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who took a low catch at low down.

Cox displayed comparable steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. There were a few remarkably beautiful strokes on the way, including a straight drive and a hook from back-to-back Carse balls to reach his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the first day of this game with a illness and made only the least significant of efforts to the second, Carse bowled brilliantly when finally afforded the shot, with McKinney and Cox among his three scalps.

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