🔗 Share this article Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England Cricket's Number Three Role with Bold 90 Against Lions It's hard to determine how relevant of the English team's preparatory match will end up being important when their Ashes campaign kicks off a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a short span in space or time but light years away in significance and atmosphere – but if it accomplished only strengthening Ollie Pope's self-belief, that on its own has rendered the exercise valuable. England's number three batsman – that much is undoubtedly totally established – built on his first-innings century by notching an additional 90 in the second, and what was impressive was not so much the total of scored runs but the style in which they were scored. At times the player appeared dominant, striking a dozen boundaries and a two of sixes, hitting the ball perfectly but with aggressive purpose. It was merely a friendly against a England Lions side that deployed exactly 11 pitchers throughout a contest staged in front of a handful of spectators in a open field, but it was still hugely impressive. To note, the England team, set a target of 202 once the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith raced the team past the finish line with a flurry of boundaries. Joe Root clocked up a further 31 runs but was less than impressive during the English team's practice. Crawley and Duckett, the two other major first-innings' performers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root made several more runs – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more assured, then being confused and accordingly out by Will Jacks. Brook suffered an same outcome soon afterwards. Bashir – who ended the game having delivered 12 overs for both teams – will have faced some of the hitting he confronted pretty aggressive. His initial six overs versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not completely poor was definitely not overly dangerous. By the conclusion the sixth of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three bowlers had allowed nearly exactly the identical number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a little less giving as time passed, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He claimed a single wicket, holding a smart, diving grab, falling to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 deliveries. Bethell, redeeming managing just a small score in the initial innings, was one of three players fifty-scorers in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than those from their No 3: he notched 66 in their first innings and went two better in their second, taking 61 balls over his fifty, with five boundaries and a couple maximums, each from Bashir's pitching. Bethell reached 68 before a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who held a low catch at ankle height. Cox exhibited comparable consistency, and backed up his initial innings' 53 with another 57, at just over a scoring rate of one. He produced several remarkably beautiful hits on the way, including a straight drive and a pull against successive Carse deliveries to reach his fifty. Having missed the first day of this match with a stomach upset and made merely the smallest of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse bowled superbly when eventually given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three scalps. The coverage could change