Pope Reinforces Claim to England Cricket's Number Three Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's tough to know how relevant of the English team's preparatory fixture will be remotely important when their Ashes battle kicks off a short distance away at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in significance and mood – but if it managed nothing more than enhancing Pope's self-belief, that on its own has made the endeavor worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – this fact is certainly absolutely certain – followed his first-innings century by notching a further 90 in the second, and the most impressive was not merely the total of scored runs but the way in which they were made. On occasion the 27-year-old looked imperious, hitting a dozen boundaries and a couple of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with devilish determination.

It was only a exhibition game versus a England Lions squad that deployed exactly 11 pitchers throughout a contest held in before a small group of spectators in a open field, but it was still hugely praiseworthy. Officially, the England team, chasing of 202 once the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith sped the team over the conclusion with a stream of boundaries.

Crawley and Ben Duckett, the other two big first-innings' achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root added additional runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, prior to being confused and accordingly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook met an identical end soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having bowled 12 overs for each side – will have found some of the strokes he confronted rather hostile. His opening six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not completely poor was certainly not very dangerous.

By the conclusion the sixth spell of those overs, England's remaining three bowlers had conceded roughly the same total of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a little less giving in time, giving up 27 from his final six. He took a single wicket, taking a sharp, low snare, falling to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three in the initial innings, was one of three half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's scores from opener were steadier than the scores of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second, facing 61 deliveries over his fifty, with five and two maximums, both off Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who took a bending catch at ankle height.

Cox showed like consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He produced several remarkably beautiful strokes on the way, featuring a straight hit and a pull against successive Carse deliveries to achieve his fifty.

Following his absence from the initial day of this game with a stomach upset and made only the least significant of inputs to the second, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when finally given the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three dismissals.

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