Ollie Pope Cements Position to England Cricket's Number Three Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's difficult to know how much of the English team's practice fixture will end up being important when their Ashes series contest begins not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but light years away in significance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished solely strengthening Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – this fact is undoubtedly totally established – built on his initial innings ton by adding a further 90 in the second, and the truly notable was not merely the quantity of runs but the way in which they were accumulated. Periodically the 27-year-old looked imperious, striking a twelve boundaries and a couple of sixes, connecting with the ball perfectly but with devilish determination.

This was just a practice match versus a Lions team that used fully 11 pitchers across a game held in before a handful of onlookers in a local ground, but it was still very noteworthy. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 once the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand when Jamie Smith hurried the team across the winning target with a stream of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings performers, both failed in the second knock, while Joe Root scored additional points – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more dominant, then being bemused and subsequently bowled by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical end shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have found part of the batting he bowled to pretty challenging. His first six overs against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not exactly wayward was certainly not very intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of that period, the English side's remaining three pitchers had given away nearly exactly the identical amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a somewhat less leaky in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He claimed a single wicket, taking a smart, low-down snare, leaning to his right, to finish Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for managing just a small score in the initial innings, was a member of three players with fifties in the Lions' leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than those from their No 3: he made 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their second innings, taking 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, the pair from Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell made 68 prior to a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a bending grab at shin level.

Cox displayed like reliability, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at about a run a ball. He produced some remarkably handsome shots during his innings, featuring a straight drive and a pull against back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his half century.

After missing the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and provided just the most minor of inputs to the second, Carse delivered superbly when finally afforded the opportunity, with McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three dismissals.

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