Ollie Pope Reinforces Status to England Cricket's Number Three Slot with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It's tough to gauge how significant of the English team's warm-up match will end up being meaningful when their Ashes series campaign begins not far at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished solely enhancing Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the endeavor worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that point is surely absolutely established – built on his first-innings century by scoring a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most impressive was not merely the total of runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the young batsman appeared dominant, hitting a twelve fours and a two of sixes, connecting with the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

It was merely a practice match versus a England Lions side that used exactly 11 bowlers throughout a match staged in amid a few dozen of spectators in a open field, but it was nevertheless extremely noteworthy. For the record, England, needing of 202 following the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets after Smith sped the team past the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings successes, both fell short in the second knock, while Joe Root added several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more dominant, prior to being bemused and duly out by Jacks. Brook met an identical fate soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have found some of the hitting he faced rather hostile. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not exactly poor was surely not very threatening.

After the sixth spell of that period, the English side's remaining three bowlers had conceded roughly the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a little less leaky in time, conceding 27 from his final six. He secured a single wicket, making a sharp, low catch, falling to his right side, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for scoring merely three in the initial innings, was one of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions' leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opener were more consistent than those of their number three: he scored 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their follow-up, taking 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, both from Bashir's pitching. Bethell reached 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low grab at ankle height.

Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a run a ball. He produced some remarkably beautiful strokes on the way, including a drive down the ground and a pull shot off consecutive Brydon Carse deliveries to achieve his half century.

Having missed the initial day of this match with a illness and contributed just the most minor of inputs to the second, Carse pitched brilliantly when eventually given the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.

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