Pope Reinforces Position to England's Number Three Spot with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It is difficult to gauge how significant of the English team's preparatory game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series contest begins not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in import and mood – but if it achieved only boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the exercise worthwhile.

England's No 3 – that point is certainly totally certain – built on his initial innings century by notching a further 90 in the second, and the truly remarkable was not so much the quantity of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. Periodically the player appeared commanding, hitting a twelve boundaries and a couple of maximums, timing the ball beautifully but with aggressive intent.

It was only a friendly against a England Lions team that deployed a total of 11 pitchers throughout a game played in before a few dozen of people in a open field, but it was still very noteworthy. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets when Jamie Smith sped the team over the winning target with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two significant first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Joe Root scored further points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more assured, prior to being bemused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook met an similar fate shortly after.

Bashir – who concluded the game having bowled 12 overs for each side – will have found part of the strokes he bowled to quite hostile. His first six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to pitching that if not entirely loose was certainly not overly threatening.

By the conclusion the sixth over of those deliveries, England's other pitchers had conceded roughly the equivalent amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a little less leaky in time, allowing 27 from his last six. He claimed one dismissal, holding a smart, low-down grab, leaning to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for managing only a small score in the initial innings, was one of three players with fifties in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were more consistent than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, taking 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five fours and a couple six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's deliveries. Bethell made 68 before a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who held a bending grab at shin level.

Jordan Cox exhibited comparable reliability, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He played some outstandingly elegant strokes on the way, such as a drive down the ground and a pull shot off back-to-back Carse balls to attain his fifty.

Having missed the first day of this match with a stomach upset and provided just the smallest of contributions to the follow-up, Brydon Carse bowled brilliantly when eventually provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Cox among his three scalps.

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