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

It is hard to gauge how much of England's warm-up fixture will prove important when their Ashes series battle kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in import and mood – but if it achieved only enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the effort valuable.

England's No 3 – that point is certainly totally established – built on his first-innings hundred by notching another 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most notable was not so much the quantity of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. Periodically the 27-year-old seemed commanding, hitting a dozen boundaries and a couple of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with aggressive purpose.

It was merely a practice match versus a England Lions squad that used exactly 11 pitchers across a contest held in amid a small group of spectators in a open field, but it was still hugely noteworthy. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root made several more points – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more convincing, prior to being confused and accordingly out by Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical fate a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found a portion of the strokes he faced quite challenging. His opening six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not entirely loose was definitely not very threatening.

After the sixth over of those deliveries, England's other pitchers had allowed roughly the equivalent amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less giving in time, giving up 27 from his final six. He claimed one dismissal, taking a smart, low-down grab, diving to his right side, to finish Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming scoring just a small score in the opening knock, was a member of three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's performances from opening batsman were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their follow-up, facing 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five boundaries and two six-hit shots, both off Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 prior to a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who made a low catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox exhibited like steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He played several outstandingly elegant strokes en route, such as a straight hit and a pull off consecutive Carse balls to attain his 50 runs.

Having missed the opening day of this fixture with a stomach upset and contributed just the smallest of inputs to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when finally given the opportunity, with McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three scalps.

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