Pope Cements Claim to England's No 3 Slot with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It is hard to determine how much of the English team's practice game will prove important when their Ashes battle begins a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in import and mood – but if it accomplished nothing more than enhancing Ollie Pope's assurance, that on its own has rendered the endeavor beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is undoubtedly completely established – built on his first-innings hundred by notching a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly remarkable was not so much the quantity of scored runs but the way in which they were scored. Periodically the young batsman seemed imperious, hitting a twelve boundaries and a two of sixes, connecting with the ball sweetly but with fierce purpose.

This was just a exhibition game versus a Lions team that deployed fully 11 pitchers throughout a game staged in front of a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was nevertheless extremely praiseworthy. For the record, England, set a target of 202 after the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand when Smith sped the team over the finish line with a stream of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings' achievers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root added further points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more assured, then being confused and subsequently dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an identical fate soon afterwards.

Bashir – who ended the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found some of the strokes he faced quite aggressive. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not exactly loose was certainly not overly dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's other bowlers had allowed nearly exactly the identical amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a little less leaky later on, allowing 27 from his final six. He took one wicket, holding a smart, low-down grab, diving to his right, to end Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring merely three in the opening knock, was one of three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were steadier than those from their No 3: he made 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, taking 61 balls over his 50 runs, with five fours and two six-hit shots, each off Bashir's's pitching. Bethell reached 68 before a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who held a low catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox showed like reliability, and backed up his first-innings 53 with another 57, at about a run a ball. There were several outstandingly elegant shots en route, such as a drive down the ground and a pull from successive Brydon Carse balls to reach his 50 runs.

After missing the first day of this game with a illness and provided merely the most minor of inputs to the second, Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three dismissals.

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