Pope Reinforces Position to England Cricket's No 3 Slot with Impressive 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to gauge how much of England's warm-up match will end up being relevant when their Ashes series campaign kicks off not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in import and atmosphere – but if it managed nothing more than boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the effort beneficial.

England's number three batsman – this fact is surely completely established – followed his initial innings ton by notching another 90 in the second, and the most notable was less about the quantity of scored runs but the style in which they were accumulated. On occasion the young batsman looked imperious, smashing a twelve fours and a pair of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with fierce intent.

This was just a practice match versus a Lions side that used fully 11 bowlers across a match played in amid a handful of onlookers in a open field, but it was nonetheless very noteworthy. To note, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets once Smith raced the team across the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Joe Root scored several more points – 31 on this time – but was far from more convincing, before being bemused and subsequently dismissed by Jacks. Brook met an identical end shortly after.

Bashir – who concluded the fixture having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have encountered some of the batting he bowled to rather aggressive. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not completely loose was certainly not very dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of those deliveries, the English side's three other bowlers had allowed roughly the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less leaky in time, allowing 27 from his final six. He took one wicket, holding a sharp, low-down catch, diving to his right, to conclude Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three runs in the initial innings, was one of a trio of fifty-scorers in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second, taking 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five fours and a couple sixes, each from Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a low catch at shin level.

Cox showed like consistency, and built on his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at just over a run per delivery. He produced several remarkably handsome shots during his innings, including a straight drive and a pull off successive Brydon Carse balls to achieve his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the initial day of this fixture with a stomach issue and made merely the smallest of inputs to the second day, Carse bowled excellently when finally given the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

The update will update