Pope Cements Claim to England's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's difficult to determine how much of England's practice fixture will end up being important when their Ashes series campaign kicks off not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but ages away in import and mood – but if it managed nothing more than strengthening Ollie Pope's assurance, that on its own has made the effort beneficial.

England's No 3 – this fact is certainly absolutely certain – built on his first-innings ton by scoring an additional 90 in the second, and what was impressive was not merely the total of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. At times the 27-year-old seemed commanding, hitting a twelve fours and a pair of sixes, connecting with the ball beautifully but with aggressive determination.

It was merely a exhibition game versus a England Lions team that employed a total of 11 bowlers throughout a match played in front of a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was still extremely impressive. For the record, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Smith raced the team across the finish line with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the two other significant first-innings successes, both fell short in the second knock, while Root scored further points – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being puzzled and accordingly out by Jacks. Harry Brook suffered an identical outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have encountered a portion of the hitting he bowled to pretty aggressive. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not completely loose was surely not overly intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth over of those overs, England's remaining three bowlers had conceded roughly the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a somewhat less leaky later on, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He took one wicket, making a smart, low catch, falling to his right side, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, off 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for managing only three in the first innings, was a member of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions' top four. Ben McKinney's performances from opener were more reliable than those from their number three: he made 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, using 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two sixes, each against Bashir's's pitching. Jacob Bethell made 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who made a bending grab at low down.

Cox displayed like reliability, and followed his first-innings 53 with another 57, at about a run a ball. He produced a few remarkably elegant shots during his innings, featuring a straight drive and a pull shot from successive Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

After missing the initial day of this fixture with a stomach upset and contributed merely the least significant of contributions to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually afforded the shot, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three dismissals.

The coverage will update