Pope Reinforces Status to England Cricket's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is difficult to determine how significant of the English team's practice match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes campaign starts 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but ages away in significance and environment – but if it achieved solely enhancing Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has made the exercise worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is surely totally established – built on his first-innings ton by scoring another 90 in the second, and the truly impressive was less about the number of runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the young batsman seemed commanding, hitting a dozen boundaries and a pair of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with devilish purpose.

This was only a exhibition game against a England Lions team that used exactly 11 bowlers across a contest played in front of a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was still very praiseworthy. Officially, England, set a target of 202 after the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith raced the team past the winning target with a series of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining major first-innings achievers, both fell short in the second knock, while Root scored several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more dominant, before being confused and accordingly out by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an identical fate a little later.

Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found part of the hitting he faced rather challenging. His initial six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not entirely loose was definitely not overly dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's three other pitchers had given away almost precisely the identical number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a little less leaky as time passed, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He secured one dismissal, holding a smart, diving snare, falling to his right, to end Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming scoring only three runs in the opening knock, was among three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were steadier than those of their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their follow-up, taking 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five boundaries and two six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's pitching. Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a bending grab at low down.

Cox exhibited similar steadiness, and built on his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a run per delivery. There were a few outstandingly beautiful shots en route, including a straight hit and a pull shot against back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to attain his 50 runs.

After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach issue and made merely the least significant of efforts to the second, Brydon Carse delivered superbly when eventually afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

This report will update