Ollie Pope Cements Status to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to gauge how much of England's practice game will prove relevant when their Ashes campaign starts not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it achieved nothing more than enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the endeavor valuable.

England's number three batsman – that point is undoubtedly completely certain – built on his initial innings century by notching a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly impressive was less about the number of scored runs but the way in which they were made. Periodically the young batsman looked imperious, hitting a twelve fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with aggressive purpose.

It was only a practice match against a England Lions squad that used fully 11 pitchers across a contest held in amid a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was nonetheless extremely praiseworthy. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith raced the team over the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining major first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root scored several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more convincing, then being bemused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an identical end shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the fixture having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have found a portion of the batting he confronted rather hostile. His first six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not exactly wayward was surely not overly intimidating.

After the sixth over of that period, England's three other bowlers had allowed almost precisely the same number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less generous as time passed, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He took a single wicket, holding a smart, diving snare, falling to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming managing merely three runs in the first innings, was one of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions' leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were more reliable than those from their number three: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, facing 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five fours and two six-hit shots, both from Bashir's's bowling. Bethell got to 68 then a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a bending catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox showed like consistency, and built on his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He played a few remarkably handsome shots during his innings, featuring a straight hit and a hook against successive Carse deliveries to attain his fifty.

Following his absence from the opening day of this match with a stomach issue and made just the smallest of efforts to the second, Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.

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