Pope Strengthens Position to England's Number Three Role with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is difficult to know how much of the English team's preparatory fixture will prove important when their Ashes contest begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in import and atmosphere – but if it achieved only boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that on its own has made the effort valuable.

England's No 3 – this fact is undoubtedly completely certain – built on his first-innings hundred by scoring a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most notable was less about the number of scored runs but the way in which they were made. At times the young batsman looked dominant, hitting a dozen boundaries and a couple of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with devilish intent.

This was merely a practice match versus a Lions squad that employed fully 11 pitchers throughout a contest staged in before a small group of onlookers in a local ground, but it was nevertheless extremely noteworthy. To note, England, chasing of 202 once the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets once Smith hurried the team past the conclusion with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the two other major first-innings' successes, both failed in the follow-up, while Root added several more runs – 31 on this time – but was far from more dominant, prior to being confused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an identical fate a little later.

Bashir – who finished the game having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have encountered part of the hitting he faced rather challenging. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not exactly wayward was surely not very dangerous.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, England's other bowlers had allowed almost precisely the identical amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a slightly less giving in time, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He took one wicket, holding a sharp, low catch, diving to his right side, to end Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming managing just a small score in the first innings, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their number three: he made 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five fours and two maximums, each off Bashir's pitching. Bethell made 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping catch at shin level.

Cox exhibited similar steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at just over a run a ball. There were some outstandingly elegant strokes on the way, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook off successive Brydon Carse balls to reach his half century.

Having missed the opening day of this game with a stomach issue and made merely the least significant of contributions to the second day, Carse pitched brilliantly when finally afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.

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