Ollie Pope Cements Status to England's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is hard to determine how much of the English team's warm-up fixture will end up being relevant when their Ashes contest begins a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved solely boosting Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the effort beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is certainly absolutely clear – followed his initial innings century by scoring another 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly remarkable was not so much the number of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. On occasion the player looked dominant, striking a twelve fours and a two of maximums, hitting the ball perfectly but with devilish purpose.

It was merely a exhibition game versus a Lions side that employed fully 11 bowlers across a game played in before a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was nonetheless hugely impressive. For the record, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team over the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings successes, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Joe Root made additional points – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more assured, then being puzzled and accordingly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook suffered an similar end soon afterwards.

Bashir – who finished the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found part of the batting he confronted rather hostile. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not exactly loose was certainly not very threatening.

At the end the sixth spell of those deliveries, England's three other bowlers had conceded nearly exactly the equivalent amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less generous later on, allowing 27 from his last six. He took a single wicket, taking a clever, diving catch, leaning to his right, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving only three runs in the opening knock, was one of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's performances from opening batsman were more reliable than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their second innings, taking 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five and a couple sixes, each from Bashir's bowling. Bethell made 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping grab at ankle height.

Cox showed like steadiness, and backed up his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at just over a run a ball. He played several remarkably beautiful strokes en route, featuring a straight hit and a pull off consecutive Carse balls to attain his fifty.

After missing the first day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed just the smallest of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when eventually given the shot, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

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