Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England Cricket's No 3 Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's hard to gauge how relevant of the English team's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series contest starts 10km away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it accomplished only enhancing Ollie Pope's assurance, that by itself has made the effort worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that point is certainly totally established – built on his first-innings ton by scoring another 90 in the second, and the truly remarkable was not so much the number of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. At times the player appeared imperious, smashing a dozen fours and a pair of sixes, connecting with the ball perfectly but with aggressive intent.

It was only a exhibition game against a England Lions squad that deployed a total of 11 pitchers during a match held in before a handful of people in a public park, but it was nonetheless hugely impressive. Officially, England, needing of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets in hand when Smith hurried the team past the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two significant first-innings' achievers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Joe Root added further runs – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more assured, prior to being puzzled and accordingly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an same end shortly after.

Bashir – who ended the game having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have found some of the strokes he bowled to pretty hostile. His first six overs against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not entirely wayward was certainly not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's three other bowlers had given away almost precisely the equivalent number of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a somewhat less generous later on, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, holding a smart, diving catch, diving to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming managing merely a small score in the first innings, was one of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, taking 61 balls for his fifty, with five boundaries and two sixes, each against Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a low catch at shin level.

Cox displayed similar reliability, and built on his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at just over a scoring rate of one. He played a few remarkably handsome shots en route, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull shot off consecutive Carse deliveries to achieve his half century.

Following his absence from the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed just the least significant of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse bowled superbly when eventually provided the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.

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