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

It is tough to determine how much of England's practice fixture will be remotely important when their Ashes campaign kicks off not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved solely enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the effort valuable.

England's No 3 – that much is undoubtedly completely established – followed his initial innings ton by adding another 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly remarkable was less about the total of scored runs but the style in which they were made. On occasion the player appeared commanding, hitting a twelve fours and a couple of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with devilish intent.

It was merely a practice match against a Lions squad that deployed fully 11 pitchers throughout a match held in front of a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was nevertheless hugely praiseworthy. To note, England, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand after Jamie Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings successes, both failed in the follow-up, while Root scored several more runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being confused and duly bowled by Jacks. Harry Brook met an similar fate a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have found part of the hitting he faced rather challenging. His opening six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not entirely poor was definitely far from threatening.

After the sixth of those overs, England's remaining three pitchers had allowed nearly exactly the identical number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a slightly less leaky in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He took a single wicket, holding a smart, diving snare, diving to his right side, to conclude Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming scoring just three runs in the first innings, was one of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were steadier than those of their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second innings, using 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five and a couple six-hit shots, the pair from Bashir's deliveries. Bethell reached 68 before a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping catch at low down.

Jordan Cox showed comparable reliability, and followed his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. There were several remarkably beautiful shots en route, featuring a straight drive and a hook off consecutive Carse balls to reach his fifty.

Having missed the initial day of this match with a stomach issue and provided just the least significant of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse delivered superbly when finally provided the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three scalps.

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