Pope Strengthens Status to England's Number Three Role with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's hard to gauge how relevant of England's practice fixture will prove meaningful when their Ashes series campaign starts a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in import and mood – but if it accomplished solely strengthening Ollie Pope's confidence, that on its own has made the effort beneficial.

England's number three batsman – that point is surely totally certain – built on his initial innings hundred by adding an additional 90 in the second innings, and what was remarkable was not so much the total of runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the 27-year-old looked imperious, hitting a dozen boundaries and a pair of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

This was just a friendly against a England Lions team that used fully 11 pitchers throughout a match held in front of a small group of onlookers in a public park, but it was nonetheless hugely praiseworthy. To note, England, set a target of 202 after the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by a margin of five wickets when Smith sped the team past the finish line with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two major first-innings successes, both failed in the second knock, while Root made additional points – 31 on this instance – but was far from more convincing, before being bemused and duly dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an similar end a little later.

Bashir – who finished the fixture having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have found part of the strokes he confronted quite aggressive. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not exactly wayward was surely not overly dangerous.

At the end the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's other pitchers had conceded almost precisely the same total of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a slightly less giving as time passed, conceding 27 from his final six. He secured a single wicket, holding a smart, low grab, leaning to his right side, to end Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving just three runs in the opening knock, was one of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their second innings, using 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five and two maximums, the pair against Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 prior to a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a bending catch at low down.

Cox displayed comparable consistency, and followed his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a run a ball. He produced a few exceptionally beautiful strokes during his innings, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull from consecutive Brydon Carse balls to reach his fifty.

Following his absence from the initial day of this game with a illness and provided only the most minor of efforts to the second, Brydon Carse delivered superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

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