Ollie Pope Strengthens Position to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's hard to know how significant of the English team's preparatory match will end up being relevant when their Ashes contest kicks off a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but worlds away in significance and atmosphere – but if it achieved solely enhancing Ollie Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the exercise valuable.

The English side's number three batsman – that point is undoubtedly completely established – built on his initial innings hundred by scoring an additional 90 in the second, and what was impressive was not merely the number of runs but the manner in which they were made. On occasion the player looked dominant, smashing a dozen boundaries and a pair of maximums, connecting with the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

It was just a friendly versus a England Lions team that employed exactly 11 pitchers across a match held in front of a few dozen of spectators in a local ground, but it was nevertheless extremely praiseworthy. Officially, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets once Smith raced the team over the finish line with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Joe Root scored several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more assured, before being bemused and accordingly bowled by Jacks. Brook experienced an identical end shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found part of the batting he confronted quite aggressive. His initial six overs against the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely poor was certainly far from threatening.

At the end the sixth spell of those overs, England's remaining three pitchers had conceded nearly exactly the equivalent number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a slightly less leaky as time passed, allowing 27 from his final six. He took one dismissal, taking a smart, low-down snare, leaning to his right, to end Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for scoring only a small score in the first innings, was among three half-centurions in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were more reliable than the scores of their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second innings, taking 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five fours and a couple sixes, the pair off Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who took a bending grab at shin level.

Cox exhibited like consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at just over a run a ball. He produced several outstandingly handsome strokes during his innings, featuring a straight hit and a pull shot off back-to-back Carse deliveries to achieve his half century.

Following his absence from the initial day of this match with a illness and contributed merely the smallest of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse pitched superbly when eventually afforded the opportunity, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

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