Pope Cements Claim to England's No 3 Role with Impressive 90 Against Lions

It's tough to know how significant of England's warm-up fixture will end up being relevant when their Ashes battle begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and environment – but if it achieved solely strengthening Pope's confidence, that alone has made the effort beneficial.

The English side's number three batsman – that point is certainly absolutely established – built on his first-innings hundred by scoring a further 90 in the second innings, and the most impressive was less about the quantity of runs but the manner in which they were scored. On occasion the player looked commanding, striking a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, connecting with the ball perfectly but with devilish determination.

It was just a exhibition game versus a England Lions squad that employed exactly 11 pitchers across a game held in front of a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was nevertheless extremely impressive. Officially, England, needing of 202 once the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand once Smith sped the team past the winning target with a stream of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings' performers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root added additional points – 31 on this time – but was far from more assured, then being bemused and accordingly dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook met an same fate a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have found some of the hitting he bowled to quite hostile. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to pitching that if not exactly wayward was certainly far from intimidating.

After the sixth spell of those deliveries, the English side's three other pitchers had conceded roughly the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a somewhat less generous as time passed, giving up 27 from his final six. He took one dismissal, taking a smart, low snare, leaning to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving just three runs in the opening knock, was one of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second innings, using 61 balls over his 50 runs, with five boundaries and a couple sixes, the pair against Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 before a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover, who made a low catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox displayed comparable consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at just over a run per delivery. There were a few remarkably handsome shots en route, featuring a straight hit and a pull shot off back-to-back Carse deliveries to attain his half century.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a stomach issue and provided just the least significant of inputs to the second, Carse delivered brilliantly when finally given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three wickets.

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