Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is hard to determine how significant of the English team's preparatory match will be remotely important when their Ashes campaign kicks off a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but light years away in importance and mood – but if it achieved only strengthening Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the effort worthwhile.

England's No 3 – that point is undoubtedly absolutely established – followed his first-innings hundred by scoring another 90 in the second, and what was remarkable was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. At times the 27-year-old appeared imperious, smashing a dozen fours and a couple of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with aggressive intent.

This was only a exhibition game versus a England Lions team that employed exactly 11 bowlers across a game staged in front of a few dozen of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely impressive. Officially, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand once Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Joe Root made further runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being bemused and accordingly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an same outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found some of the hitting he bowled to pretty challenging. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not completely wayward was certainly not overly dangerous.

After the sixth over of those overs, England's three other bowlers had conceded almost precisely the identical amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less leaky in time, allowing 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, making a sharp, diving grab, diving to his right, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for scoring only a small score in the first innings, was among a trio of half-centurions in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were more consistent than those of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their second, facing 61 deliveries to reach his half-century, with five boundaries and two sixes, each against Bashir's pitching. Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping catch at shin level.

Cox displayed like steadiness, and built on his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. There were several outstandingly elegant strokes on the way, including a straight hit and a pull shot from back-to-back Brydon Carse deliveries to achieve his fifty.

Having missed the opening day of this fixture with a stomach issue and made just the least significant of inputs to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched excellently when finally provided the shot, with McKinney and Cox included in his three dismissals.

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