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

It's tough to determine how relevant of the English team's preparatory fixture will end up being meaningful when their Ashes series campaign kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in importance and environment – but if it accomplished solely boosting Ollie Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is certainly totally established – built on his first-innings hundred by adding an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most impressive was not merely the quantity of runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the player seemed dominant, striking a dozen boundaries and a two of sixes, timing the ball beautifully but with fierce purpose.

This was just a practice match against a England Lions team that employed fully 11 bowlers across a match played in before a small group of spectators in a local ground, but it was nonetheless hugely impressive. Officially, the England team, chasing of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team past the finish line with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other big first-innings' performers, both failed in the second innings, while Joe Root scored several more points – 31 on this instance – but was far from more convincing, then being puzzled and subsequently bowled by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have found some of the batting he confronted pretty challenging. His opening six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not exactly poor was definitely not overly dangerous.

After the sixth of that period, the English side's three other pitchers had given away almost precisely the same amount of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a somewhat less giving in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, taking a smart, diving catch, leaning to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming scoring just three runs in the opening knock, was one of three players half-centurions in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opening batsman were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he notched 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two maximums, each off Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a mis-hit to Stokes at cover, who made a bending grab at ankle height.

Cox showed similar steadiness, and built on his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at just over a run a ball. He produced some remarkably beautiful strokes during his innings, featuring a straight hit and a pull against back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his half century.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a illness and made only the smallest of efforts to the follow-up, Carse delivered brilliantly when finally provided the shot, with McKinney and Cox included in his three dismissals.

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