Pope Reinforces Position to England's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It's hard to know how significant of the English team's warm-up match will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes battle starts not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but light years away in importance and environment – but if it managed nothing more than boosting Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the effort beneficial.

England's number three batsman – that point is certainly totally certain – followed his initial innings ton by notching an additional 90 in the second, and the most remarkable was not merely the number of scored runs but the way in which they were made. Periodically the 27-year-old looked commanding, striking a twelve boundaries and a two of sixes, hitting the ball sweetly but with devilish purpose.

This was only a exhibition game versus a England Lions team that used fully 11 pitchers across a contest held in before a small group of people in a open field, but it was nonetheless extremely impressive. Officially, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions closed their second innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Smith raced the team across the conclusion with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two major first-innings performers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root made additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more assured, prior to being confused and duly dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an similar end a little later.

Bashir – who ended the match having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have faced part of the strokes he confronted rather hostile. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not entirely wayward was definitely not overly intimidating.

After the sixth spell of those overs, the English side's other bowlers had allowed almost precisely the equivalent total of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler grew a little less leaky as time passed, conceding 27 from his final six. He took a single wicket, holding a clever, diving snare, diving to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 deliveries.

Jacob Bethell, redeeming scoring only three in the initial innings, was one of three players with fifties in the Lions' leading batsmen. McKinney's scores from opener were more consistent than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their second innings, taking 61 balls over his half-century, with five and two maximums, both from Bashir's bowling. Bethell reached 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover position, who made a stooping grab at shin level.

Cox showed comparable consistency, and followed his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. There were some remarkably elegant shots on the way, featuring a straight hit and a hook off consecutive Carse balls to reach his fifty.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a stomach issue and provided just the smallest of inputs to the second, Brydon Carse delivered excellently when at last provided the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three scalps.

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