Pope Reinforces Claim to England Cricket's No 3 Slot with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It is tough to determine how much of England's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series contest begins 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved solely strengthening Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the exercise beneficial.

The English side's No 3 – that much is certainly completely established – followed his first-innings century by scoring an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly notable was less about the number of scored runs but the style in which they were made. At times the 27-year-old appeared imperious, hitting a dozen fours and a two of sixes, connecting with the ball perfectly but with aggressive purpose.

It was just a practice match versus a England Lions squad that employed fully 11 bowlers during a game staged in front of a small group of people in a local ground, but it was nevertheless extremely praiseworthy. To note, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets when Jamie Smith raced the team over the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root added additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, before being bemused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found a portion of the hitting he bowled to quite hostile. His initial six deliveries against the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not exactly loose was surely not very dangerous.

At the end the sixth spell of those deliveries, the English side's three other bowlers had given away roughly the identical amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less leaky later on, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He secured one wicket, holding a clever, low-down grab, falling to his right side, to end Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving only three in the first innings, was a member of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's top order. McKinney's performances from opening batsman were steadier than those from their number three: he made 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their follow-up, facing 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, both against Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell reached 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover, who made a low grab at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited similar reliability, and followed his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. He played a few exceptionally beautiful hits during his innings, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook against successive Carse balls to reach his half century.

Following his absence from the first day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed just the least significant of inputs to the follow-up, Brydon Carse bowled brilliantly when at last provided the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.

This report may be updated