Ollie Pope Cements Status to England's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's hard to know how relevant of the English team's preparatory match will end up being relevant when their Ashes series campaign kicks off not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in space or time but light years away in importance and environment – but if it achieved only strengthening Ollie Pope's assurance, that on its own has made the endeavor valuable.

The English side's number three batsman – that much is undoubtedly absolutely established – followed his initial innings ton by adding another 90 in the second, and the truly notable was less about the quantity of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. Periodically the 27-year-old seemed dominant, striking a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with fierce determination.

This was just a practice match against a England Lions side that employed a total of 11 bowlers across a contest played in front of a handful of onlookers in a public park, but it was still very impressive. To note, England, chasing of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand once Smith sped the team across the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Joe Root made several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more convincing, then being puzzled and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook suffered an similar fate shortly after.

Bashir – who finished the fixture having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have found some of the batting he bowled to quite aggressive. His first six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely loose was certainly far from dangerous.

After the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three pitchers had conceded nearly exactly the identical amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a little less generous later on, allowing 27 from his final six. He took one wicket, making a sharp, low-down grab, falling to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving just three runs in the initial innings, was among three half-centurions in the Lions' top order. McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more reliable than the scores of their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, taking 61 deliveries over his half-century, with five and two sixes, both against Bashir's's bowling. Jacob Bethell reached 68 prior to a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who made a stooping grab at shin level.

Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and built on his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. He produced some outstandingly elegant hits en route, featuring a straight drive and a pull from back-to-back Brydon Carse deliveries to attain his fifty.

Following his absence from the first day of this match with a illness and made merely the smallest of contributions to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched brilliantly when eventually given the chance, with McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

This report may be updated