Pope Strengthens Claim to England's Number Three Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It is hard to determine how significant of England's warm-up fixture will be remotely important when their Ashes battle begins not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it achieved nothing more than strengthening Pope's assurance, that alone has made the effort worthwhile.

England's No 3 – this fact is undoubtedly totally clear – built on his first-innings ton by notching another 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly remarkable was not merely the number of scored runs but the manner in which they were made. At times the 27-year-old looked commanding, striking a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, timing the ball beautifully but with fierce purpose.

It was merely a friendly versus a Lions side that used a total of 11 pitchers throughout a game played in front of a handful of people in a open field, but it was nonetheless very noteworthy. For the record, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets after Jamie Smith sped the team past the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings successes, both failed in the second innings, while Root made further points – 31 on this time – but was far from more convincing, prior to being confused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have faced some of the hitting he confronted rather challenging. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to pitching that if not completely wayward was certainly not overly dangerous.

After the sixth spell of those overs, England's remaining three bowlers had conceded roughly the identical total of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a little less leaky in time, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He took one dismissal, making a clever, diving grab, falling to his right, to end Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 balls.

Bethell, making up for achieving merely three in the first innings, was one of three players with fifties in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more consistent than the scores of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second, facing 61 balls for his fifty, with five boundaries and two six-hit shots, each off Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell reached 68 then a mishit to Ben Stokes at cover, who took a stooping grab at low down.

Cox displayed comparable reliability, and built on his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at just over a run per delivery. He played several outstandingly handsome hits on the way, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook from back-to-back Carse balls to attain his fifty.

Having missed the initial day of this fixture with a stomach issue and contributed just the least significant of efforts to the second, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.

This report may be updated