Ollie Pope Reinforces Claim to England's Number Three Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is hard to determine how relevant of England's warm-up fixture will be remotely relevant when their Ashes contest kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and environment – but if it managed solely enhancing Ollie Pope's confidence, that by itself has rendered the effort worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is undoubtedly absolutely certain – built on his first-innings century by scoring a further 90 in the second, and what was remarkable was not merely the total of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. On occasion the young batsman appeared dominant, striking a twelve boundaries and a two of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with aggressive intent.

It was just a exhibition game against a Lions side that deployed exactly 11 bowlers throughout a match played in front of a few dozen of people in a local ground, but it was nevertheless very impressive. For the record, England, set a target of 202 after the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team over the winning target with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root scored additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being bemused and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an same fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have found part of the hitting he confronted pretty challenging. His opening six overs against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not completely poor was surely far from dangerous.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three bowlers had allowed roughly the identical amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less generous later on, allowing 27 from his final six. He claimed a single wicket, holding a sharp, diving grab, falling to his right, to conclude Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming achieving only a small score in the opening knock, was one of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second innings, using 61 deliveries to reach his half-century, with five and a couple six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's pitching. Bethell made 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover, who made a stooping grab at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and followed his first-innings 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He produced a few outstandingly beautiful strokes during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a hook off back-to-back Carse deliveries to reach his 50 runs.

After missing the opening day of this game with a stomach upset and provided just the least significant of efforts to the second, Carse bowled excellently when finally afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three dismissals.

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