Ollie Pope Strengthens Status to England's No 3 Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's hard to gauge how significant of the English team's preparatory fixture will end up being meaningful when their Ashes series contest starts a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but light years away in importance and environment – but if it managed solely boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

The English side's number three batsman – that point is certainly completely certain – built on his first-innings ton by adding an additional 90 in the second innings, and what was impressive was not so much the total of scored runs but the manner in which they were made. At times the 27-year-old looked dominant, striking a dozen boundaries and a couple of sixes, hitting the ball beautifully but with devilish determination.

This was only a practice match versus a England Lions team that employed fully 11 bowlers across a match staged in before a few dozen of onlookers in a local ground, but it was nevertheless very noteworthy. For the record, England, set a target of 202 following the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand when Smith sped the team past the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining major first-innings' performers, both failed in the second knock, while Root added additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more assured, before being confused and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an same end shortly after.

Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have found a portion of the hitting he confronted pretty challenging. His initial six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not completely poor was surely not very dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth over of that period, England's remaining three pitchers had given away almost precisely the same total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less generous in time, allowing 27 from his final six. He claimed a single wicket, holding a smart, diving snare, falling to his right side, to finish Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming achieving merely three runs in the initial innings, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions' leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were steadier than the scores of their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their second innings, using 61 deliveries to reach his fifty, with five boundaries and a couple sixes, both from Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell reached 68 prior to a mishit to Stokes at cover, who made a bending catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox showed comparable steadiness, and backed up his first-innings 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He played some outstandingly handsome strokes on the way, including a straight hit and a pull shot against consecutive Brydon Carse balls to reach his 50 runs.

After missing the initial day of this fixture with a stomach upset and made merely the least significant of inputs to the second day, Brydon Carse pitched superbly when finally afforded the shot, with McKinney and Cox included in his three wickets.

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