Ollie Pope Reinforces Status to England Cricket's No 3 Spot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's tough to know how much of the English team's practice fixture will prove important when their Ashes battle begins not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but light years away in significance and atmosphere – but if it achieved solely boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that by itself has rendered the exercise valuable.

England's number three batsman – that much is undoubtedly completely established – built on his initial innings century by notching an additional 90 in the second innings, and the truly remarkable was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the manner in which they were made. On occasion the young batsman appeared imperious, hitting a twelve boundaries and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball sweetly but with fierce purpose.

It was merely a exhibition game against a Lions squad that deployed fully 11 bowlers across a contest held in amid a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was nevertheless hugely impressive. For the record, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team past the finish line with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining big first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Joe Root scored additional runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, then being puzzled and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar end shortly after.

Bashir – who concluded the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have faced some of the strokes he bowled to quite challenging. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not completely wayward was certainly not very intimidating.

After the sixth over of those overs, the English side's other bowlers had allowed nearly exactly the identical total of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less generous in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He secured one wicket, taking a clever, diving catch, diving to his right side, to conclude Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming achieving merely three in the opening knock, was among a trio of half-centurions in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their follow-up, facing 61 deliveries for his 50 runs, with five fours and a couple six-hit shots, both against Bashir's bowling. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who made a stooping grab at shin level.

Cox showed like consistency, and built on his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. There were some remarkably handsome shots on the way, including a straight drive and a pull shot off consecutive Carse balls to achieve his half century.

After missing the opening day of this fixture with a stomach upset and made only the least significant of contributions to the second, Carse delivered excellently when finally afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox included in his three wickets.

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