Pope Strengthens Claim to England's Number Three Spot with Bold 90 Against Lions

It is tough to know how much of England's practice fixture will prove important when their Ashes series battle starts a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but light years away in import and environment – but if it achieved nothing more than enhancing Ollie Pope's confidence, that alone has made the effort worthwhile.

England's No 3 – that much is undoubtedly completely clear – built on his initial innings hundred by notching another 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was notable was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the way in which they were scored. Periodically the player appeared commanding, striking a twelve boundaries and a two of maximums, connecting with the ball perfectly but with aggressive purpose.

This was merely a practice match against a Lions squad that employed a total of 11 bowlers across a contest held in front of a small group of people in a public park, but it was nonetheless extremely noteworthy. For the record, England, chasing of 202 following the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith raced the team past the winning target with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining major first-innings' achievers, both fell short in the second innings, while Joe Root made further points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more convincing, before being bemused and subsequently out by Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical outcome shortly after.

Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for each side – will have faced part of the strokes he bowled to quite aggressive. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to pitching that if not entirely loose was definitely not very intimidating.

After the sixth over of that period, the English side's three other bowlers had allowed roughly the same amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a somewhat less generous in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one dismissal, holding a smart, low-down grab, leaning to his right, to finish Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming managing only three runs in the opening knock, was a member of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were more reliable than the scores of their number three: he scored 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their follow-up, taking 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five boundaries and two sixes, both against Bashir's's pitching. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a stooping catch at low down.

Cox exhibited comparable consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at just over a scoring rate of one. He played some remarkably handsome hits on the way, including a straight hit and a pull against successive Carse deliveries to reach his half century.

After missing the opening day of this fixture with a stomach upset and made merely the smallest of contributions to the second, Carse bowled brilliantly when eventually afforded the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three dismissals.

This report may be updated