Ollie Pope Strengthens Claim to England's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is tough to know how much of the English team's practice game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series battle starts a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but worlds away in significance and atmosphere – but if it managed nothing more than enhancing Ollie Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the endeavor worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that much is undoubtedly absolutely certain – built on his initial innings century by scoring a further 90 in the second innings, and the most notable was not so much the quantity of runs but the way in which they were scored. On occasion the player looked imperious, striking a twelve fours and a two of maximums, connecting with the ball sweetly but with devilish determination.

It was merely a friendly against a Lions squad that employed exactly 11 pitchers across a game held in amid a handful of people in a local ground, but it was still very noteworthy. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 once the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets once Jamie Smith sped the team over the finish line with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings achievers, both fell short in the second innings, while Root scored additional runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more convincing, before being bemused and subsequently bowled by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an similar outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered a portion of the hitting he bowled to pretty aggressive. His opening six overs against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to deliveries that if not completely poor was surely not very dangerous.

After the sixth over of that period, England's remaining three bowlers had conceded roughly the same number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a little less generous in time, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He took one wicket, taking a smart, low-down catch, diving to his right, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, making up for achieving only three runs in the initial innings, was a member of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's scores from opener were more consistent than those from their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second innings, facing 61 balls over his 50 runs, with five and two six-hit shots, each off Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a stooping grab at low down.

Jordan Cox exhibited like reliability, and followed his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. He played a few remarkably beautiful hits during his innings, including a straight hit and a hook against successive Brydon Carse balls to attain his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the first day of this match with a stomach upset and made just the smallest of efforts to the second, Carse pitched superbly when eventually provided the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

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