Pope Reinforces Position to England's Number Three Role with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how much of the English team's warm-up match will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes contest begins not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in significance and environment – but if it achieved solely boosting Pope's confidence, that on its own has made the effort valuable.

The English side's No 3 – that point is surely absolutely certain – followed his first-innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second innings, and the truly remarkable was not so much the quantity of runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. On occasion the player looked imperious, smashing a dozen boundaries and a two of maximums, hitting the ball perfectly but with fierce intent.

This was just a friendly versus a Lions team that deployed exactly 11 pitchers across a contest held in front of a small group of onlookers in a public park, but it was nonetheless very praiseworthy. To note, England, needing of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets after Smith raced the team past the conclusion with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two major first-innings' performers, both failed in the second knock, while Root added additional runs – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more assured, before being bemused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an similar outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for each side – will have faced some of the hitting he bowled to rather aggressive. His opening six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not entirely wayward was certainly not overly dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth of those deliveries, England's other pitchers had given away roughly the equivalent amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a slightly less leaky later on, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He claimed one wicket, taking a sharp, low-down grab, leaning to his right side, to end Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for scoring only three runs in the opening knock, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were more consistent than those from their number three: he scored 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their follow-up, using 61 balls to reach his fifty, with five fours and two six-hit shots, each against Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell made 68 before a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a bending grab at low down.

Jordan Cox displayed like consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. He produced some outstandingly elegant hits en route, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot against consecutive Carse balls to achieve his half century.

Following his absence from the first day of this match with a stomach upset and provided just the least significant of efforts to the second, Carse delivered superbly when eventually given the shot, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.

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