Ollie Pope Reinforces Status to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is tough to determine how much of England's preparatory fixture will prove meaningful when their Ashes battle kicks off a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but light years away in import and environment – but if it managed only enhancing Pope's assurance, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is surely completely established – built on his first-innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was not so much the total of runs but the style in which they were made. Periodically the player looked commanding, hitting a twelve fours and a pair of sixes, timing the ball beautifully but with devilish determination.

It was just a friendly against a England Lions squad that employed exactly 11 pitchers during a match held in amid a small group of people in a open field, but it was nonetheless very noteworthy. Officially, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets when Smith hurried the team past the winning target with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Joe Root made additional points – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being puzzled and accordingly bowled by Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have faced some of the hitting he bowled to pretty hostile. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to bowling that if not completely loose was surely not very dangerous.

At the end the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's remaining three bowlers had allowed nearly exactly the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less leaky as time passed, giving up 27 from his last six. He claimed one wicket, holding a sharp, low-down grab, leaning to his right, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming managing only three in the opening knock, was among a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than the scores of their number three: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their second innings, using 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five fours and a couple six-hit shots, both against Bashir's's bowling. Bethell got to 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping grab at low down.

Jordan Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and followed his first-innings 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. He played some exceptionally handsome strokes during his innings, including a straight hit and a pull shot off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to reach his 50 runs.

Having missed the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and made merely the most minor of inputs to the second, Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.

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