Pope Cements Claim to England's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's tough to gauge how relevant of England's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes campaign begins a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in space or time but ages away in significance and mood – but if it managed only boosting Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the effort valuable.

England's No 3 – that point is certainly totally established – built on his initial innings ton by notching a further 90 in the second innings, and what was impressive was not merely the quantity of runs but the way in which they were accumulated. Periodically the 27-year-old seemed commanding, striking a twelve boundaries and a two of maximums, hitting the ball sweetly but with aggressive intent.

It was merely a practice match against a Lions squad that used fully 11 bowlers throughout a game held in front of a handful of people in a local ground, but it was still very impressive. For the record, England, set a target of 202 following the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets after Smith sped the team past the finish line with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other big first-innings successes, both failed in the second knock, while Joe Root added further points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more assured, then being confused and subsequently out by Jacks. Brook met an identical outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have encountered a portion of the strokes he bowled to rather aggressive. His opening six deliveries against the Lions cost 56, with McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not completely poor was definitely not very intimidating.

After the sixth of that period, the English side's other bowlers had conceded roughly the same number of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less giving in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, taking a sharp, low grab, diving to his right side, to end Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming scoring just three in the initial innings, was one of three players players with fifties in the Lions' top four. McKinney's scores from opener were more reliable than those of their No 3: he notched 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their second innings, taking 61 deliveries to reach his half-century, with five fours and a couple six-hit shots, both from Bashir's pitching. Bethell reached 68 before a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low catch at low down.

Jordan Cox showed like steadiness, and followed his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. He produced several exceptionally elegant hits en route, such as a drive down the ground and a hook against consecutive Carse deliveries to attain his fifty.

Following his absence from the first day of this game with a stomach issue and made just the least significant of inputs to the second, Carse delivered brilliantly when finally given the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

This report may be updated