Pope Strengthens Position to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is difficult to know how much of the English team's preparatory match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes battle begins not far at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but worlds away in significance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished only strengthening Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the exercise worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – this fact is surely totally clear – followed his initial innings hundred by scoring an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was remarkable was not so much the total of runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the young batsman seemed imperious, striking a dozen fours and a couple of sixes, hitting the ball beautifully but with devilish determination.

It was just a practice match versus a England Lions team that deployed exactly 11 pitchers during a match held in amid a few dozen of people in a local ground, but it was nonetheless hugely praiseworthy. Officially, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Smith raced the team across the finish line with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the two other major first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root added several more points – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more convincing, before being confused and accordingly out by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an identical outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found a portion of the batting he faced rather aggressive. His opening six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not completely poor was surely not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of that period, England's three other pitchers had given away almost precisely the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a somewhat less generous later on, giving up 27 from his last six. He secured one wicket, taking a smart, low catch, diving to his right side, to end Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three runs in the opening knock, was among a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were steadier than those of their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their follow-up, taking 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple sixes, each against Bashir's pitching. Bethell reached 68 then a poor shot to Stokes at cover, who held a stooping grab at low down.

Jordan Cox displayed similar reliability, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played some outstandingly beautiful hits en route, such as a straight drive and a pull shot off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

Having missed the opening day of this game with a illness and contributed only the most minor of inputs to the second, Brydon Carse bowled superbly when finally afforded the shot, with McKinney and Cox among his three scalps.

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