Pope Strengthens Status to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is tough to know how significant of the English team's preparatory fixture will end up being relevant when their Ashes series contest kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in import and mood – but if it accomplished only strengthening Ollie Pope's assurance, that by itself has made the exercise worthwhile.

England's No 3 – this fact is certainly absolutely clear – followed his first-innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second, and the truly impressive was not merely the number of scored runs but the style in which they were accumulated. On occasion the young batsman looked dominant, striking a dozen fours and a two of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with aggressive intent.

This was only a friendly against a Lions squad that employed exactly 11 bowlers during a match held in before a small group of people in a local ground, but it was nonetheless extremely impressive. To note, the England team, needing of 202 after the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets once Smith sped the team past the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two big first-innings successes, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root scored several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more assured, then being confused and duly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an identical fate a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have faced a portion of the batting he faced pretty challenging. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to pitching that if not entirely poor was surely not overly intimidating.

At the end the sixth over of that period, the English side's other pitchers had given away nearly exactly the equivalent amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a slightly less giving as time passed, giving up 27 from his final six. He claimed one dismissal, holding a sharp, diving snare, leaning to his right side, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving merely three in the first innings, was among a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were steadier than the scores of their number three: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their follow-up, using 61 balls over his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two sixes, the pair against Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell made 68 before a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who took a stooping catch at ankle height.

Cox displayed similar steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played a few exceptionally elegant shots on the way, such as a drive down the ground and a hook from successive Brydon Carse balls to reach his half century.

After missing the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed only the least significant of efforts to the second day, Carse delivered superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three wickets.

The coverage will update