Pope Strengthens Status to England's Number Three Slot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's difficult to determine how much of England's warm-up fixture will prove relevant when their Ashes campaign kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in import and environment – but if it achieved nothing more than strengthening Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has made the effort beneficial.

England's number three batsman – this fact is surely totally certain – followed his first-innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second innings, and the most impressive was less about the number of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. On occasion the young batsman looked dominant, hitting a twelve fours and a two of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with devilish determination.

This was merely a friendly against a Lions team that deployed fully 11 pitchers during a match staged in front of a small group of onlookers in a open field, but it was still very praiseworthy. Officially, England, needing of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets once Jamie Smith sped the team past the winning target with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings' achievers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Joe Root made additional points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more convincing, then being confused and duly out by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an similar fate shortly after.

Bashir – who concluded the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have faced some of the batting he bowled to rather challenging. His initial six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not entirely wayward was certainly not overly dangerous.

After the sixth spell of that period, England's remaining three pitchers had conceded almost precisely the identical total of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less leaky as time passed, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He took one dismissal, taking a sharp, diving catch, leaning to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, compensating for achieving merely three in the first innings, was one of three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's performances from opening batsman were more consistent than those of their number three: he made 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their second innings, facing 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five boundaries and a couple sixes, both off Bashir's bowling. Bethell reached 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox exhibited like reliability, and followed his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at just over a run a ball. He produced a few exceptionally handsome strokes during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a pull shot from successive Brydon Carse balls to achieve his half century.

Having missed the opening day of this fixture with a stomach issue and provided merely the least significant of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched superbly when eventually given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three dismissals.

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