Pope Cements Status to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Bold 90 Versus Lions

It is difficult to gauge how significant of the English team's preparatory fixture will prove important when their Ashes series campaign begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in significance and atmosphere – but if it managed nothing more than boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

England's number three batsman – that point is certainly absolutely certain – followed his first-innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second innings, and the truly remarkable was not so much the quantity of runs but the way in which they were made. Periodically the young batsman looked dominant, smashing a dozen fours and a couple of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with fierce intent.

It was merely a practice match versus a Lions side that employed fully 11 pitchers across a match held in front of a small group of onlookers in a public park, but it was nevertheless hugely noteworthy. To note, England, set a target of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets once Smith hurried the team over the conclusion with a stream of fours and sixes.

Zak Crawley and Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' successes, both fell short in the second innings, while Root scored further runs – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more convincing, prior to being confused and duly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 overs for each side – will have faced part of the batting he bowled to pretty challenging. His opening six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to deliveries that if not completely wayward was surely far from threatening.

At the end the sixth over of those overs, England's other pitchers had conceded almost precisely the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less giving later on, giving up 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, holding a smart, low-down catch, leaning to his right side, to finish Bethell's innings for 70, facing 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, making up for scoring only three runs in the first innings, was a member of three players half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than the scores of their number three: he notched 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second, taking 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's's pitching. Bethell made 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover, who took a bending catch at low down.

Jordan Cox showed comparable reliability, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at just over a run a ball. He produced some outstandingly elegant strokes during his innings, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook against back-to-back Carse balls to achieve his fifty.

Having missed the first day of this match with a illness and made just the most minor of inputs to the follow-up, Carse pitched superbly when at last given the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.

This report will update