Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England's No 3 Role with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It's tough to determine how significant of England's practice match will prove meaningful when their Ashes series campaign begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but light years away in importance and atmosphere – but if it managed only boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that on its own has made the endeavor beneficial.

England's No 3 – this fact is surely absolutely certain – followed his first-innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was less about the total of runs but the way in which they were scored. At times the player looked dominant, smashing a twelve fours and a pair of sixes, hitting the ball beautifully but with aggressive intent.

It was only a practice match versus a England Lions side that employed exactly 11 pitchers throughout a game played in amid a handful of onlookers in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely impressive. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 once the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Jamie Smith hurried the team over the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings successes, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Joe Root made several more runs – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more convincing, before being puzzled and accordingly bowled by Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an identical outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered some of the strokes he confronted quite aggressive. His first six overs against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not completely loose was certainly not overly intimidating.

At the end the sixth of those deliveries, the English side's three other bowlers had allowed almost precisely the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a little less generous in time, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He took a single wicket, taking a clever, low grab, falling to his right, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three runs in the opening knock, was a member of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were steadier than those of their number three: he scored 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their follow-up, facing 61 balls for his fifty, with five and two sixes, each against Bashir's bowling. Bethell made 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a bending catch at low down.

Cox exhibited comparable consistency, and built on his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a run per delivery. He played some exceptionally beautiful strokes on the way, such as a drive down the ground and a hook off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

Following his absence from the first day of this fixture with a illness and made merely the most minor of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when eventually provided the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three wickets.

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