Ollie Pope Strengthens Status to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how much of the English team's warm-up game will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes series battle starts a short distance away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in significance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished only boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the exercise worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – this fact is certainly completely clear – followed his initial innings century by adding another 90 in the second innings, and the truly impressive was not so much the number of scored runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. On occasion the 27-year-old looked dominant, striking a dozen boundaries and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball sweetly but with aggressive purpose.

It was just a friendly versus a Lions side that deployed fully 11 pitchers throughout a game held in front of a few dozen of people in a local ground, but it was nonetheless extremely praiseworthy. Officially, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team over the winning target with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings successes, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Joe Root scored additional points – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more assured, before being confused and subsequently bowled by Jacks. Brook experienced an identical end a little later.

Bashir – who finished the fixture having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have faced part of the strokes he confronted quite hostile. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not entirely wayward was certainly far from threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth of those overs, the English side's other pitchers had conceded roughly the equivalent amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a slightly less generous in time, giving up 27 from his last six. He secured one dismissal, holding a clever, diving catch, diving to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming scoring just three runs in the initial innings, was one of three players with fifties in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were more reliable than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second innings, taking 61 balls for his 50 runs, with five and two six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's deliveries. Bethell made 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a low catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox showed comparable steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He produced a few outstandingly handsome hits en route, including a straight drive and a pull off successive Brydon Carse balls to reach his fifty.

Following his absence from the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and provided only the smallest of contributions to the second, Brydon Carse pitched brilliantly when finally provided the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.

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