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

It's hard to determine how relevant of England's practice fixture will prove important when their Ashes series battle kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in space or time but light years away in significance and mood – but if it managed solely boosting Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the endeavor beneficial.

England's No 3 – that point is certainly completely clear – followed his initial innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second innings, and the most remarkable was less about the quantity of scored runs but the manner in which they were scored. At times the young batsman appeared imperious, hitting a twelve fours and a couple of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with devilish determination.

This was merely a friendly against a England Lions team that deployed fully 11 bowlers throughout a contest staged in amid a small group of people in a public park, but it was nonetheless hugely praiseworthy. Officially, the England team, chasing of 202 once the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets when Smith raced the team past the conclusion with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' achievers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root added several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more assured, before being puzzled and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an same fate soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the game having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have found some of the hitting he bowled to quite challenging. His opening six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to bowling that if not completely wayward was definitely far from intimidating.

After the sixth over of those overs, the English side's three other bowlers had given away roughly the identical amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less giving in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He secured one wicket, taking a clever, low grab, falling to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming scoring merely a small score in the first innings, was among three 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, taking 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five and two six-hit shots, both against Bashir's's bowling. Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who made a stooping grab at low down.

Cox showed comparable steadiness, and built on his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a run per delivery. He produced several remarkably beautiful shots during his innings, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull from successive Brydon Carse deliveries to reach his fifty.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a stomach upset and made merely the most minor of efforts to the follow-up, Carse bowled superbly when at last given the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox part of his three scalps.

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