Pope Reinforces Position to England's No 3 Slot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's difficult to gauge how significant of England's practice match will be remotely important when their Ashes campaign starts not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but ages away in import and environment – but if it accomplished only boosting Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the effort valuable.

The English side's number three batsman – this fact is surely totally clear – built on his first-innings century by notching a further 90 in the follow-up innings, and the most notable was not merely the number of runs but the manner in which they were scored. At times the young batsman seemed imperious, striking a twelve boundaries and a two of sixes, hitting the ball sweetly but with fierce intent.

This was just a friendly versus a Lions team that deployed exactly 11 bowlers across a game staged in before a few dozen of onlookers in a open field, but it was nevertheless hugely impressive. Officially, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team past the finish line with a stream of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two significant first-innings performers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Joe Root made additional runs – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more convincing, prior to being confused and accordingly dismissed by Jacks. Brook experienced an similar end a little later.

Bashir – who concluded the fixture having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have faced some of the batting he bowled to quite challenging. His first six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to bowling that if not exactly poor was certainly not very threatening.

At the end the sixth over of those overs, England's other bowlers had allowed roughly the same amount of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a little less giving in time, conceding 27 from his final six. He claimed a single wicket, taking a clever, diving catch, diving to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing only a small score in the initial innings, was one of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more reliable than those from their number three: he notched 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their second innings, using 61 balls for his 50 runs, with five and two sixes, the pair from Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell made 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover, who held a stooping grab at low down.

Cox displayed similar steadiness, and backed up his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He produced some remarkably beautiful shots en route, including a straight hit and a pull shot against consecutive Carse deliveries to achieve his half century.

Having missed the first day of this game with a stomach upset and provided just the smallest of contributions to the second day, Carse bowled superbly when eventually afforded the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

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