Ollie Pope Cements Position to England's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to gauge how much of the English team's practice game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series battle kicks off not far at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but light years away in importance and environment – but if it accomplished solely boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the exercise beneficial.

England's No 3 – this fact is certainly completely established – followed his first-innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly notable was less about the total of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. On occasion the player seemed commanding, striking a dozen fours and a couple of sixes, connecting with the ball perfectly but with devilish purpose.

It was merely a exhibition game against a England Lions squad that deployed fully 11 bowlers during a match staged in before a small group of spectators in a open field, but it was still extremely praiseworthy. Officially, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Smith raced the team past the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two significant first-innings performers, both fell short in the second innings, while Joe Root scored several more runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more assured, then being bemused and duly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an same outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have encountered some of the batting he confronted pretty hostile. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not completely poor was surely far from intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of that period, the English side's three other pitchers had allowed almost precisely the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less generous as time passed, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He took a single wicket, making a smart, low-down grab, diving to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring just three in the initial innings, was one of a trio of fifty-scorers in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than those of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their second innings, facing 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five and two sixes, the pair against Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell made 68 before a poor shot to Stokes at cover, who took a bending grab at ankle height.

Cox displayed like consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a run per delivery. He played a few exceptionally beautiful shots during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a pull against consecutive Brydon Carse deliveries to achieve his half century.

Having missed the first day of this match with a illness and provided just the least significant of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when finally afforded the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three wickets.

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