Ollie Pope Reinforces Claim to England's Number Three Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's tough to gauge how much of the English team's practice game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series battle starts not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but light years away in import and mood – but if it achieved nothing more than enhancing Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the exercise beneficial.

England's number three batsman – that point is surely completely certain – followed his first-innings ton by scoring a further 90 in the second, and what was notable was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the manner in which they were made. At times the young batsman appeared dominant, hitting a twelve boundaries and a couple of sixes, connecting with the ball sweetly but with aggressive intent.

This was only a exhibition game against a Lions team that used a total of 11 bowlers during a match staged in before a few dozen of people in a public park, but it was nevertheless extremely noteworthy. To note, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets when Smith sped the team over the finish line with a stream of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings successes, both failed in the second innings, while Joe Root made several more runs – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more assured, then being puzzled and accordingly dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an same outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have found some of the hitting he bowled to pretty aggressive. His initial six deliveries against the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not entirely loose was surely not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three pitchers had conceded nearly exactly the identical total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a slightly less leaky later on, giving up 27 from his final six. He secured one wicket, holding a smart, diving grab, diving to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving merely three in the first innings, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than the scores of their number three: he notched 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their second innings, using 61 deliveries to reach his fifty, with five and two sixes, both off Bashir's's pitching. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a bending grab at low down.

Cox displayed comparable consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. There were several remarkably beautiful strokes on the way, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot from consecutive Brydon Carse balls to attain his half century.

After missing the opening day of this match with a illness and contributed only the most minor of efforts to the second day, Carse bowled brilliantly when at last provided the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three scalps.

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