Pope Reinforces Position to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It's hard to determine how significant of England's practice fixture will prove relevant when their Ashes contest starts not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved only boosting Pope's confidence, that on its own has rendered the effort beneficial.

The English side's number three batsman – that point is certainly completely established – built on his first-innings hundred by notching a further 90 in the second innings, and the truly notable was not so much the number of runs but the style in which they were made. At times the player appeared dominant, smashing a dozen boundaries and a pair of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with aggressive intent.

This was just a exhibition game against a Lions squad that employed a total of 11 bowlers across a game played in before a handful of spectators in a public park, but it was nevertheless hugely impressive. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets once Smith sped the team over the conclusion with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings performers, both failed in the second knock, while Root scored further runs – 31 on this time – but was far from more assured, prior to being puzzled and duly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical fate soon afterwards.

Bashir – who finished the match having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have faced a portion of the strokes he faced rather challenging. His initial six overs against the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not entirely poor was surely not overly intimidating.

At the end the sixth over of that period, England's remaining three pitchers had allowed roughly the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less generous in time, conceding 27 from his final six. He secured one wicket, taking a sharp, low snare, diving to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for managing merely three runs in the first innings, was a member of three players with fifties in the Lions team's top order. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more consistent than those of their number three: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second innings, using 61 balls for his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, both against Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a poor shot to Stokes at cover, who made a stooping catch at shin level.

Cox displayed similar consistency, and built on his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at just over a scoring rate of one. He played several remarkably beautiful hits en route, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull shot off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

After missing the opening day of this game with a illness and made merely the smallest of contributions to the second, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually provided the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.

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