Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's difficult to know how relevant of the English team's warm-up match will end up being important when their Ashes battle kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in import and environment – but if it achieved solely enhancing Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has rendered the endeavor beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is certainly totally clear – followed his first-innings ton by notching a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was notable was not merely the quantity of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. At times the player seemed imperious, striking a dozen boundaries and a pair of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with aggressive purpose.

It was only a practice match against a England Lions team that employed fully 11 pitchers during a game staged in front of a small group of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless very noteworthy. For the record, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team across the finish line with a series of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' performers, both failed in the second knock, while Root made further points – 31 on this time – but was far from more convincing, before being bemused and subsequently out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical fate a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the game having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have encountered some of the batting he bowled to rather hostile. His initial six deliveries against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not completely poor was surely not overly dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth of those deliveries, England's three other pitchers had conceded almost precisely the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a slightly less giving as time passed, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He claimed one dismissal, holding a smart, low-down snare, diving to his right side, to end Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving just three in the initial innings, was among a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top order. McKinney's performances from opener were steadier than those of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their second innings, taking 61 balls for his 50 runs, with five and two six-hit shots, both off Bashir's bowling. Bethell made 68 before a mis-hit to Stokes at cover, who held a stooping catch at low down.

Cox showed similar consistency, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He played some remarkably elegant hits en route, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull shot off back-to-back Carse deliveries to attain his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the initial day of this fixture with a stomach issue and made merely the most minor of contributions to the follow-up, Carse bowled superbly when at last provided the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three dismissals.

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