Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It is tough to gauge how much of the English team's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes battle starts not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in import and mood – but if it achieved only boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the endeavor beneficial.

The English side's number three batsman – that much is surely absolutely established – built on his initial innings ton by scoring another 90 in the second, and what was impressive was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the style in which they were scored. At times the 27-year-old seemed commanding, striking a dozen fours and a couple of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with devilish intent.

This was merely a practice match against a England Lions team that used a total of 11 pitchers across a match held in front of a small group of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely noteworthy. To note, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets once Jamie Smith sped the team over the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the two other big first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Joe Root made further runs – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more convincing, before being bemused and duly out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar end shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the game having bowled 12 overs for each side – will have found part of the batting he confronted quite aggressive. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not entirely poor was certainly not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's three other bowlers had given away roughly the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a slightly less leaky in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He took a single wicket, holding a clever, diving snare, leaning to his right side, to end Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing only three runs in the first innings, was among a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top order. McKinney's scores from opener were steadier than those of their number three: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and scored 68 in their second innings, facing 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five and two sixes, the pair against Bashir's bowling. Bethell reached 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who took a low catch at low down.

Jordan Cox exhibited like reliability, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at just over a run per delivery. He produced some exceptionally handsome shots during his innings, including a straight hit and a pull shot off consecutive Carse deliveries to attain his 50 runs.

Having missed the first day of this fixture with a stomach issue and contributed only the most minor of contributions to the second, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when finally afforded the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three wickets.

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