Pope Cements Position to England's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is tough to know how significant of the English team's warm-up fixture will end up being important when their Ashes series battle begins 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in significance and mood – but if it managed solely strengthening Pope's assurance, that on its own has made the exercise worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – that point is certainly absolutely clear – followed his first-innings hundred by notching a further 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was not so much the total of runs but the style in which they were scored. At times the player seemed commanding, smashing a dozen boundaries and a pair of sixes, connecting with the ball beautifully but with aggressive intent.

This was only a exhibition game against a England Lions side that deployed fully 11 bowlers throughout a contest played in front of a few dozen of onlookers in a local ground, but it was still very noteworthy. Officially, England, needing of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith raced the team over the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining big first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root added several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more assured, before being puzzled and accordingly dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an same end a little later.

Bashir – who concluded the fixture having bowled 12 overs for each side – will have found a portion of the hitting he bowled to rather challenging. His initial six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to pitching that if not exactly poor was definitely not overly intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three pitchers had allowed roughly the identical total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a slightly less leaky later on, allowing 27 from his last six. He secured one dismissal, making a sharp, diving snare, leaning to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing merely three in the first innings, was a member of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opening batsman were steadier than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second, facing 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple six-hit shots, each from Bashir's bowling. Bethell made 68 before a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a bending catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox showed comparable steadiness, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. He played several remarkably elegant strokes on the way, featuring a straight drive and a hook off consecutive Carse deliveries to reach his fifty.

After missing the first day of this game with a illness and made merely the most minor of inputs to the follow-up, Brydon Carse bowled superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three dismissals.

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