Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England's Number Three Role with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how relevant of England's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series campaign starts 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in import and atmosphere – but if it managed solely boosting Ollie Pope's confidence, that on its own has made the exercise beneficial.

The English side's number three batsman – that point is surely absolutely established – built on his initial innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was not merely the quantity of runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. At times the 27-year-old seemed dominant, hitting a dozen boundaries and a two of sixes, timing the ball beautifully but with aggressive purpose.

This was only a friendly versus a England Lions team that deployed fully 11 pitchers across a match played in before a small group of people in a local ground, but it was still hugely impressive. Officially, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets after Jamie Smith sped the team across the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' successes, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root scored several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more convincing, before being confused and subsequently out by Will Jacks. Brook met an same end a little later.

Bashir – who concluded the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered some of the hitting he bowled to rather hostile. His first six overs against the Lions cost 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not completely wayward was surely far from dangerous.

At the end the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's remaining three bowlers had given away roughly the same total of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a little less generous later on, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He took one dismissal, taking a smart, diving catch, falling to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming managing merely three runs in the opening knock, was among three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's returns from opener were more consistent than the scores of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their follow-up, facing 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five and two six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell reached 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low grab at ankle height.

Jordan Cox displayed like consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at just over a run per delivery. He produced some exceptionally handsome hits on the way, including a straight hit and a pull from back-to-back Carse deliveries to achieve his fifty.

Having missed the opening day of this game with a stomach upset and made just the least significant of inputs to the follow-up, Carse delivered superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with McKinney and Cox included in his three scalps.

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