Ollie Pope Cements Position to England's Number Three Role with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to gauge how significant of the English team's practice game will prove important when their Ashes campaign begins a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it achieved only boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the effort worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that point is undoubtedly totally established – built on his initial innings ton by scoring an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most remarkable was less about the total of scored runs but the way in which they were made. On occasion the player seemed dominant, smashing a twelve fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with aggressive determination.

This was just a exhibition game against a England Lions side that deployed a total of 11 bowlers during a match played in before a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was nevertheless hugely praiseworthy. To note, England, set a target of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Smith raced the team across the conclusion with a series of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two big first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root added further runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being bemused and duly bowled by Jacks. Brook met an similar fate shortly after.

Bashir – who ended the game having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have found a portion of the strokes he faced rather aggressive. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to deliveries that if not exactly loose was surely far from dangerous.

At the end the sixth spell of those deliveries, England's other bowlers had allowed roughly the identical number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a somewhat less leaky as time passed, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, taking a smart, low-down catch, falling to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three in the opening knock, was a member of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's returns 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 fifty, with five fours and a couple maximums, both against Bashir's bowling. Bethell made 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a low grab at shin level.

Cox displayed like consistency, and followed his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He produced some exceptionally beautiful strokes during his innings, including a straight drive and a pull against consecutive Carse deliveries to achieve his fifty.

After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach upset and provided just the most minor of efforts to the second day, Carse pitched superbly when at last provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox part of his three wickets.

This report may be updated