Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England's Number Three Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how significant of the English team's warm-up match will be remotely relevant when their Ashes contest kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on the coming Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in importance and atmosphere – but if it managed nothing more than enhancing Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the effort beneficial.

England's number three batsman – this fact is undoubtedly absolutely clear – built on his first-innings hundred by notching another 90 in the second, and the most remarkable was not so much the number of scored runs but the style in which they were accumulated. On occasion the 27-year-old appeared commanding, smashing a twelve boundaries and a couple of sixes, hitting the ball sweetly but with fierce intent.

It was merely a exhibition game versus a Lions team that employed a total of 11 pitchers across a game held in front of a small group of onlookers in a local ground, but it was still extremely praiseworthy. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets after Jamie Smith hurried the team past the conclusion with a series of boundaries.

Crawley and Duckett, the other two big first-innings successes, both failed in the second knock, while Joe Root made additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more dominant, before being bemused and duly dismissed by Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an same outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have found some of the hitting he confronted quite hostile. His initial six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney feasting to bowling that if not exactly loose was definitely not overly threatening.

At the end the sixth of those overs, England's three other pitchers had conceded almost precisely the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less leaky in time, giving up 27 from his remaining six. He claimed one wicket, holding a clever, diving catch, leaning to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, compensating for managing only three runs in the initial innings, was a member of three players half-centurions in the Lions' leading batsmen. McKinney's performances from opening batsman were more reliable than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their second innings, taking 61 balls over his half-century, with five and a couple six-hit shots, both off Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a mishit to Stokes at cover, who took a stooping catch at ankle height.

Jordan Cox displayed comparable steadiness, and followed his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. He produced several remarkably beautiful hits en route, featuring a straight hit and a hook from successive Carse balls to achieve his half century.

After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach upset and made just the least significant of inputs to the second, Brydon Carse pitched brilliantly when at last given the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.

This report may be updated