Pope Strengthens Position to England's Number Three Role with Strong 90 Versus Lions

It's tough to determine how relevant of England's warm-up fixture will prove important when their Ashes series battle kicks off not far at the Perth venue on Friday – a brief gap in space or time but ages away in import and environment – but if it achieved only strengthening Pope's assurance, that on its own has rendered the effort worthwhile.

England's No 3 – this fact is certainly totally certain – built on his initial innings ton by scoring another 90 in the second innings, and the most notable was not merely the quantity of runs but the way in which they were accumulated. On occasion the 27-year-old appeared dominant, striking a dozen fours and a two of sixes, timing the ball perfectly but with aggressive determination.

This was just a practice match against a Lions side that used fully 11 bowlers during a game staged in before a handful of spectators in a public park, but it was nevertheless very praiseworthy. Officially, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, triumphed by a margin of five wickets when Jamie Smith raced the team across the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining major first-innings' achievers, both failed in the second innings, while Root added several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was far from more dominant, before being bemused and duly bowled by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar fate shortly after.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the game having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have found some of the strokes he bowled to quite hostile. His first six deliveries against the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not exactly wayward was certainly not very dangerous.

At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, England's three other pitchers had conceded nearly exactly the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a little less leaky in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He secured a single wicket, making a sharp, low grab, falling to his right side, to finish Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, compensating for achieving just three in the first innings, was a member of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's top four. McKinney's scores from opener were more consistent than those from their number three: he made 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second innings, using 61 deliveries over his 50 runs, with five fours and two sixes, each from Bashir's's deliveries. Bethell reached 68 then a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who took a low grab at low down.

Jordan Cox showed like consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a scoring rate of one. There were several remarkably handsome shots on the way, including a drive down the ground and a pull against consecutive Carse balls to reach his half century.

Following his absence from the initial day of this fixture with a stomach upset and made only the most minor of inputs to the second day, Carse bowled brilliantly when finally provided the chance, with McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

This report may be updated