Ollie Pope Cements Claim to England Cricket's Number Three Slot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is hard to know how relevant of England's preparatory fixture will prove relevant when their Ashes battle kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but ages away in significance and atmosphere – but if it managed nothing more than boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – this fact is surely absolutely clear – built on his first-innings century by notching another 90 in the second, and the truly notable was less about the quantity of scored runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the 27-year-old looked dominant, striking a dozen boundaries and a two of maximums, connecting with the ball beautifully but with aggressive purpose.

This was merely a friendly versus a England Lions squad that deployed a total of 11 bowlers throughout a match staged in amid a few dozen of people in a local ground, but it was nonetheless hugely noteworthy. For the record, England, set a target of 202 following the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand after Jamie Smith hurried the team over the finish line with a series of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two big first-innings' performers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Joe Root made additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more assured, before being confused and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical fate a little later.

Bashir – who finished the game having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have faced some of the strokes he bowled to rather hostile. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not exactly poor was definitely not overly intimidating.

At the end the sixth spell of that period, England's remaining three bowlers had allowed almost precisely the identical total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less leaky as time passed, allowing 27 from his last six. He secured one wicket, taking a sharp, diving catch, leaning to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring just a small score in the first innings, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and went two better in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five and two sixes, each against Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a stooping catch at ankle height.

Cox displayed like reliability, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a run per delivery. He produced some outstandingly handsome hits en route, such as a drive down the ground and a pull against consecutive Brydon Carse deliveries to reach his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the initial day of this fixture with a stomach issue and contributed only the most minor of contributions to the second, Carse pitched excellently when eventually given the shot, with McKinney and Cox included in his three wickets.

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