Pope Strengthens Position to England Cricket's No 3 Spot with Strong 90 Against Lions

It's tough to determine how relevant of the English team's practice game will end up being meaningful when their Ashes series contest starts 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in import and atmosphere – but if it accomplished only strengthening Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the effort worthwhile.

The English side's No 3 – that much is surely totally clear – built on his initial innings century by scoring a further 90 in the second innings, and what was remarkable was not merely the number of runs but the style in which they were made. On occasion the player looked commanding, smashing a dozen boundaries and a pair of maximums, timing the ball beautifully but with aggressive purpose.

This was only a practice match versus a England Lions side that used fully 11 bowlers throughout a contest staged in front of a few dozen of people in a public park, but it was nevertheless hugely noteworthy. Officially, England, chasing of 202 once the Lions ended their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand once Smith raced the team past the finish line with a series of fours and sixes.

Crawley and Duckett, the remaining significant first-innings' performers, both failed in the follow-up, while Joe Root added further runs – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more dominant, before being confused and accordingly out by Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar outcome soon afterwards.

Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the fixture having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have faced some of the strokes he confronted rather aggressive. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not completely poor was surely not overly intimidating.

At the end the sixth over of those overs, England's other pitchers had conceded roughly the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a little less giving in time, allowing 27 from his final six. He secured one wicket, holding a sharp, low snare, leaning to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.

Bethell, redeeming scoring merely three runs in the initial innings, was one of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions team's top four. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were steadier than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and scored 68 in their second innings, using 61 balls to reach his fifty, with five fours and a couple sixes, each from Bashir's's pitching. Bethell got to 68 then a mishit to Stokes at cover, who made a low catch at shin level.

Jordan Cox showed like reliability, and built on his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at just over a run per delivery. He played several remarkably handsome hits en route, such as a straight hit and a pull against back-to-back Carse balls to achieve his 50 runs.

Following his absence from the opening day of this game with a stomach issue and contributed merely the smallest of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse delivered brilliantly when eventually given the shot, with McKinney and Cox among his three dismissals.

The update may be updated