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

It's tough to know how much of the English team's practice match will end up being important when their Ashes series contest kicks off a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but light years away in significance and atmosphere – but if it managed only boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the endeavor worthwhile.

England's No 3 – this fact is surely totally certain – followed his initial innings ton by scoring a further 90 in the second innings, and the most impressive was not merely the number of runs but the style in which they were scored. Periodically the young batsman looked commanding, smashing a dozen fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with fierce determination.

This was only a exhibition game against a Lions squad that employed exactly 11 bowlers across a contest staged in front of a handful of people in a public park, but it was nevertheless hugely praiseworthy. For the record, England, chasing of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team over the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings successes, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root added further runs – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more convincing, prior to being bemused and accordingly out by Jacks. Harry Brook met an same outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the fixture having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have found a portion of the strokes he faced pretty aggressive. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not entirely loose was definitely not very intimidating.

After the sixth of those overs, England's three other bowlers had conceded almost precisely the identical amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a somewhat less leaky as time passed, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He secured a single wicket, making a clever, low-down grab, diving to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, making up for managing merely three in the initial innings, was one of three players with fifties in the Lions' leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more consistent than those of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second innings, using 61 balls for his 50 runs, with five and two maximums, each against Bashir's's pitching. Bethell reached 68 then a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who made a bending catch at low down.

Jordan Cox showed like steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. There were several exceptionally handsome hits en route, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull from consecutive Brydon Carse deliveries to reach his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the first day of this fixture with a stomach issue and provided just the smallest of efforts to the second day, Carse pitched excellently when finally afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three dismissals.

This report will update