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

It's tough to know how significant of the English team's practice game will be remotely important when their Ashes series campaign kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in space or time but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved solely strengthening Ollie Pope's confidence, that on its own has made the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – that much is surely totally clear – built on his first-innings hundred by scoring a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and what was impressive was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the style in which they were made. At times the player seemed imperious, smashing a dozen fours and a pair of sixes, timing the ball sweetly but with devilish determination.

This was just a friendly against a Lions team that used fully 11 pitchers across a contest played in amid a small group of spectators in a public park, but it was nevertheless extremely praiseworthy. To note, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand when Smith sped the team over the conclusion with a series of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings' performers, both fell short in the second knock, while Joe Root made additional points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being puzzled and accordingly bowled by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar end a little later.

Bashir – who ended the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have faced a portion of the hitting he bowled to quite aggressive. His initial six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not entirely loose was certainly not very threatening.

After the sixth of those overs, England's other pitchers had conceded almost precisely the same total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a somewhat less generous in time, conceding 27 from his final six. He took a single wicket, taking a sharp, diving grab, leaning to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing just three in the first innings, was one of a trio of fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more consistent than the scores of their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their follow-up, facing 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five fours and two sixes, each off Bashir's deliveries. Bethell made 68 then a poor shot to Ben Stokes at cover, who held a bending catch at ankle height.

Cox showed similar consistency, and followed his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. He produced some exceptionally handsome hits during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a pull off back-to-back Brydon Carse balls to achieve his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the first day of this match with a stomach upset and provided merely the smallest of inputs to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched superbly when finally provided the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three wickets.

The update could change