Ollie Pope Reinforces Claim to England's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It is tough to gauge how much of the English team's preparatory fixture will be remotely important when their Ashes contest starts 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but light years away in import and atmosphere – but if it accomplished solely enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the effort worthwhile.

England's number three batsman – this fact is certainly completely established – built on his first-innings ton by adding an additional 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most impressive was not so much the quantity of runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. At times the young batsman appeared dominant, smashing a twelve fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with devilish intent.

It was only a practice match against a Lions side that employed fully 11 pitchers throughout a match held in front of a few dozen of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely noteworthy. Officially, the England team, set a target of 202 after the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by five wickets after Smith raced the team across the conclusion with a stream of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two major first-innings' performers, both failed in the second knock, while Root scored further runs – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more convincing, then being puzzled and subsequently out by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have faced a portion of the batting he confronted pretty aggressive. His initial six overs against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not entirely wayward was surely not overly threatening.

At the end the sixth over of those overs, England's three other pitchers had given away nearly exactly the same number of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a somewhat less leaky later on, giving up 27 from his last six. He claimed a single wicket, making a smart, low-down grab, falling to his right, to end Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving just a small score in the initial innings, was one of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions team's top order. McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than those from their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, both off Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 then a poor shot to Stokes at cover, who took a bending grab at low down.

Cox showed similar reliability, and built on his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He played some exceptionally beautiful strokes en route, including a straight hit and a pull from consecutive Carse deliveries to achieve his fifty.

After missing the opening day of this fixture with a stomach issue and made only the least significant of inputs to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered excellently when at last provided the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

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