Pope Reinforces Status to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Against Lions

It is tough to know how relevant of England's practice fixture will end up being meaningful when their Ashes battle begins not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in space or time but ages away in significance and atmosphere – but if it managed solely strengthening Pope's self-belief, that by itself has rendered the effort worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – that point is surely absolutely certain – built on his initial innings ton by notching a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and the truly remarkable was not so much the total of runs but the style in which they were scored. On occasion the player appeared dominant, smashing a dozen boundaries and a pair of sixes, connecting with the ball perfectly but with fierce determination.

It was merely a friendly versus a Lions team that used fully 11 pitchers throughout a game held in front of a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was nevertheless extremely praiseworthy. Officially, England, chasing of 202 after the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand when Smith raced the team across the conclusion with a stream of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two significant first-innings' successes, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root made several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more assured, before being confused and duly out by Jacks. Harry Brook met an identical outcome a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the game having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have faced some of the batting he faced rather challenging. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not completely poor was definitely not overly dangerous.

After the sixth over of that period, England's three other bowlers had given away almost precisely the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less giving as time passed, conceding 27 from his last six. He took one dismissal, taking a smart, diving grab, diving to his right side, to finish Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, compensating for managing merely a small score in the initial innings, was one of three half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than the scores of their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their second, taking 61 balls for his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, the pair off Bashir's bowling. Bethell made 68 prior to a mishit to Stokes at cover position, who held a bending grab at ankle height.

Cox displayed comparable reliability, and followed his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. There were a few remarkably handsome strokes during his innings, including a drive down the ground and a pull shot off consecutive Brydon Carse balls to attain his half century.

Having missed the initial day of this game with a illness and provided just the smallest of contributions to the second, Brydon Carse pitched excellently when eventually given the chance, with McKinney and Cox part of his three dismissals.

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