Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It is difficult to determine how much of the English team's preparatory game will end up being relevant when their Ashes campaign begins 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it managed solely enhancing Pope's confidence, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – this fact is surely totally clear – followed his initial innings ton by adding a further 90 in the second innings, and the truly remarkable was not so much the number of scored runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. At times the young batsman looked dominant, striking a twelve fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball sweetly but with aggressive intent.

This was merely a practice match against a Lions squad that deployed a total of 11 bowlers throughout a contest played in front of a small group of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely impressive. Officially, England, needing of 202 once the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets after Smith hurried the team over the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings' achievers, both failed in the second knock, while Joe Root added further runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more convincing, before being bemused and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Brook suffered an identical fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have found a portion of the batting he faced pretty challenging. His opening six overs against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not entirely loose was certainly not very intimidating.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three bowlers had conceded nearly exactly the equivalent amount of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a little less giving as time passed, giving up 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, holding a clever, low-down snare, leaning to his right, to end Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for scoring just three runs in the first innings, was a member of three fifty-scorers in the Lions' top four. McKinney's performances from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries over his half-century, with five fours and two maximums, the pair from Bashir's's bowling. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who took a stooping grab at shin level.

Jordan Cox showed like consistency, and backed up his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a run a ball. He produced several outstandingly beautiful shots during his innings, featuring a straight drive and a pull from successive Carse balls to reach his half century.

Following his absence from the initial day of this fixture with a illness and made merely the least significant of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse bowled brilliantly when finally given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three dismissals.

The coverage will update