Pope Reinforces Claim to England's Number Three Slot with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It is difficult to gauge how relevant of England's warm-up match will prove relevant when their Ashes contest starts not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and mood – but if it achieved only enhancing Ollie Pope's assurance, that on its own has made the exercise worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that point is certainly completely established – built on his first-innings hundred by scoring another 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was not so much the number of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. At times the player appeared imperious, hitting a dozen boundaries and a two of maximums, connecting with the ball beautifully but with fierce determination.

This was merely a exhibition game against a Lions squad that deployed fully 11 pitchers during a contest held in front of a handful of onlookers in a open field, but it was nevertheless extremely impressive. To note, the England team, chasing of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team over the finish line with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings' successes, both failed in the follow-up, while Root added further points – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more dominant, before being bemused and subsequently bowled by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an identical outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have faced some of the hitting he faced quite aggressive. His opening six deliveries against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not completely loose was surely not overly dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth of those deliveries, England's other pitchers had allowed nearly exactly the same total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a slightly less leaky as time passed, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He took a single wicket, taking a clever, low-down grab, leaning to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving just a small score in the opening knock, was one of three fifty-scorers in the Lions' top four. McKinney's performances from opener were more reliable than those of their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their second, taking 61 deliveries to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two sixes, both against Bashir's's pitching. Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a stooping grab at shin level.

Jordan Cox exhibited like consistency, and built on his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He played several exceptionally elegant strokes on the way, including a drive down the ground and a hook from back-to-back Brydon Carse deliveries to attain his fifty.

After missing the first day of this match with a stomach upset and made merely the smallest of efforts to the follow-up, Carse pitched excellently when finally provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox among his three wickets.

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