Ollie Pope Cements Position to England's No 3 Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's hard to know how significant of the English team's preparatory fixture will prove important when their Ashes series contest kicks off not far at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but ages away in significance and environment – but if it accomplished nothing more than strengthening Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

The English side's number three batsman – this fact is undoubtedly completely certain – followed his initial innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second, and what was remarkable was not merely the quantity of runs but the way in which they were scored. On occasion the player appeared commanding, hitting a dozen fours and a couple of maximums, timing the ball beautifully but with devilish purpose.

It was only a exhibition game versus a England Lions squad that employed exactly 11 pitchers throughout a contest played in amid a few dozen of spectators in a open field, but it was still extremely impressive. For the record, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand after Jamie Smith raced the team across the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root added additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more assured, before being confused and duly dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook met an similar end shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have encountered part of the strokes he confronted quite hostile. His opening six deliveries against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not entirely poor was definitely far from intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth of those overs, England's other pitchers had given away nearly exactly the equivalent number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less generous as time passed, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He secured a single wicket, holding a clever, low grab, diving to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving only three in the initial innings, was a member of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were more reliable than those of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and went two better in their follow-up, facing 61 deliveries to reach his 50 runs, with five and a couple six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's's bowling. Bethell reached 68 prior to a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a stooping catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited similar reliability, and backed up his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. There were some remarkably handsome hits on the way, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot from consecutive Brydon Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a stomach issue and contributed merely the smallest of inputs to the follow-up, Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox part of his three scalps.

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