Ollie Pope Strengthens Status to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to determine how significant of the English team's warm-up fixture will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes campaign begins not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in significance and mood – but if it achieved only enhancing Ollie Pope's confidence, that by itself has rendered the effort beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is certainly absolutely established – followed his initial innings ton by scoring an additional 90 in the second innings, and what was remarkable was not merely the total of scored runs but the style in which they were made. At times the young batsman seemed commanding, smashing a dozen fours and a two of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with fierce determination.

It was only a practice match against a England Lions team that deployed exactly 11 pitchers throughout a contest held in amid a few dozen of people in a open field, but it was still extremely impressive. To note, the England team, chasing of 202 after the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team past the winning target with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two major first-innings' successes, both failed in the follow-up, while Joe Root made additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more assured, before being confused and duly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having bowled 12 bowling spells for each side – will have faced some of the strokes he bowled to pretty challenging. His initial six deliveries against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not completely poor was definitely not very threatening.

After the sixth spell of that period, the English side's other bowlers had given away almost precisely the equivalent amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a little less generous as time passed, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, making a clever, low-down snare, leaning to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Bethell, making up for managing merely three in the first innings, was one of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were steadier than those from their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second, taking 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, both against Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell made 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who made a bending grab at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and followed his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. There were several remarkably beautiful shots on the way, including a straight hit and a pull shot off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to attain his half century.

Having missed the initial day of this match with a illness and contributed merely the most minor of contributions to the second, Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually provided the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

This report will update