Ollie Pope Cements Status to England Cricket's No 3 Spot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is difficult to know how significant of England's preparatory fixture will end up being meaningful when their Ashes series campaign starts not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but worlds away in import and atmosphere – but if it accomplished nothing more than boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that by itself has made the exercise valuable.

The English side's No 3 – that much is undoubtedly absolutely established – followed his initial innings hundred by notching an additional 90 in the second, and the most impressive was not merely the total of runs but the style in which they were made. At times the young batsman looked dominant, smashing a dozen fours and a pair of maximums, connecting with the ball sweetly but with fierce determination.

It was just a exhibition game against a England Lions side that deployed a total of 11 bowlers throughout a match held in before a small group of onlookers in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely praiseworthy. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by a margin of five wickets once Smith raced the team over the conclusion with a stream of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings' successes, both failed in the second innings, while Root scored further points – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being confused and duly dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an similar outcome shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having bowled 12 bowling spells for each side – will have faced a portion of the batting he confronted rather challenging. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not exactly poor was surely far from intimidating.

After the sixth of those overs, England's other pitchers had allowed roughly the identical amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less leaky later on, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He claimed one wicket, making a clever, low-down catch, diving to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, off 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for scoring just three in the opening knock, was among three fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than those of their number three: he scored 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their second innings, taking 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five boundaries and two six-hit shots, both against Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell reached 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a low catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox displayed similar consistency, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He produced several exceptionally beautiful shots on the way, featuring a straight drive and a hook off back-to-back Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed only the smallest of contributions to the second, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when eventually given the chance, with McKinney and Cox part of his three dismissals.

This report may be updated