Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's tough to determine how relevant of England's warm-up match will prove important when their Ashes series campaign starts 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and mood – but if it accomplished only strengthening Pope's assurance, that by itself has made the exercise beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that point is certainly totally certain – followed his first-innings ton by notching a further 90 in the second innings, and the most notable was not so much the quantity of scored runs but the style in which they were made. At times the player looked imperious, striking a twelve fours and a pair of maximums, connecting with the ball beautifully but with aggressive determination.

This was merely a exhibition game versus a England Lions side that used fully 11 pitchers during a game staged in amid a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was nonetheless hugely impressive. Officially, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith sped the team past the finish line with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings performers, both fell short in the second innings, while Root made additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being confused and subsequently out by Jacks. Brook met an identical fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have found a portion of the hitting he faced rather hostile. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not exactly loose was surely not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of that period, the English side's three other pitchers had conceded almost precisely the same amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a slightly less generous as time passed, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He took a single wicket, making a clever, low snare, diving to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring only three runs in the initial innings, was one of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's returns from opener were more consistent than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, facing 61 deliveries to reach his fifty, with five fours and a couple sixes, the pair off Bashir's bowling. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who made a low grab at low down.

Cox exhibited comparable consistency, and built on his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He produced several remarkably beautiful strokes en route, including a straight hit and a hook against successive Carse deliveries to reach his fifty.

After missing the initial day of this fixture with a stomach issue and provided only the smallest of efforts to the second, Brydon Carse delivered excellently when finally provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox included in his three scalps.

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