Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's difficult to determine how significant of the English team's preparatory match will prove important when their Ashes campaign begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it managed nothing more than boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort beneficial.

England's number three batsman – that much is certainly completely clear – built on his initial innings century by scoring another 90 in the second, and the most impressive was not merely the total of runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. Periodically the player looked dominant, striking a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.

This was just a friendly versus a England Lions side that employed exactly 11 bowlers during a contest played in front of a small group of people in a public park, but it was nonetheless very praiseworthy. To note, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets after Jamie Smith sped the team over the finish line with a stream of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining major first-innings performers, both fell short in the second innings, while Root scored additional points – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more dominant, before being bemused and duly out by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an same outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have encountered some of the batting he bowled to rather challenging. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not exactly wayward was certainly not overly intimidating.

After the sixth of those deliveries, England's other pitchers had allowed nearly exactly the equivalent number of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a somewhat less leaky in time, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He claimed one dismissal, holding a smart, low-down grab, falling to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving only three runs in the opening knock, was among three players half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's scores from opener were more reliable than those of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their second innings, using 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five fours and two six-hit shots, each off Bashir's's pitching. Bethell reached 68 before a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who held a bending catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox exhibited comparable steadiness, and followed his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a run a ball. There were several outstandingly handsome shots on the way, including a straight drive and a pull against consecutive Carse deliveries to attain his half century.

Following his absence from the first day of this match with a stomach issue and contributed just the smallest of efforts to the follow-up, Carse delivered excellently when at last given the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.

This report may be updated