Pope Strengthens Status to England Cricket's No 3 Slot with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It is hard to determine how significant of the English team's practice game will be remotely important when their Ashes series battle starts 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in import and mood – but if it achieved nothing more than boosting Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – this fact is surely absolutely established – built on his initial innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second, and what was remarkable was less about the number of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. At times the player appeared commanding, smashing a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with aggressive purpose.

This was only a friendly versus a Lions team that deployed fully 11 pitchers throughout a contest staged in before a few dozen of spectators in a public park, but it was still very impressive. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand after Jamie Smith raced the team past the finish line with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings performers, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Joe Root made additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more dominant, then being puzzled and subsequently dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook met an same outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have found part of the batting he faced quite aggressive. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not entirely wayward was definitely far from intimidating.

At the end the sixth spell of those overs, England's remaining three pitchers had given away almost precisely the identical number of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a slightly less leaky in time, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He took one dismissal, taking a smart, low-down grab, diving to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for managing only a small score in the initial innings, was a member of three half-centurions in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than those from their No 3: he notched 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their second innings, taking 61 balls for his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, each against Bashir's bowling. Bethell reached 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a low grab at low down.

Jordan Cox displayed similar consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at about a scoring rate of one. There were a few remarkably elegant hits on the way, including a drive down the ground and a hook off successive Carse deliveries to attain his 50 runs.

After missing the opening day of this game with a stomach issue and provided only the most minor of contributions to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when at last given the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.

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