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

It's difficult to gauge how relevant of England's warm-up game will prove meaningful when their Ashes series contest kicks off 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but light years away in significance and atmosphere – but if it managed solely strengthening Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has made the effort beneficial.

England's No 3 – this fact is undoubtedly completely established – followed his first-innings century by adding a further 90 in the second, and the most impressive was not merely the quantity of scored runs but the way in which they were accumulated. Periodically the 27-year-old appeared imperious, smashing a twelve boundaries and a couple of sixes, timing the ball beautifully but with devilish determination.

It was only a friendly versus a Lions side that used fully 11 bowlers across a game staged in before a small group of onlookers in a local ground, but it was nonetheless very impressive. To note, the England team, needing of 202 after the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand after Jamie Smith sped the team across the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining major first-innings' achievers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Joe Root made additional runs – 31 on this time – but was not significantly more assured, then being confused and subsequently dismissed by Jacks. Brook suffered an same fate a little later.

Shoaib Bashir – who finished the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for both teams – will have encountered a portion of the hitting he confronted rather hostile. His initial six overs versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney feasting to deliveries that if not completely loose was definitely far from intimidating.

By the conclusion the sixth of those deliveries, the English side's remaining three pitchers had conceded roughly the equivalent total of points – 57 – from 15, though Bashir grew a somewhat less giving in time, conceding 27 from his remaining six. He took one dismissal, holding a sharp, diving snare, falling to his right, to conclude Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, from 80 balls.

Bethell, redeeming achieving just a small score in the opening knock, was one of three fifty-scorers in the Lions' top order. McKinney's performances from opening batsman were more consistent than the scores of their number three: he scored 66 in their first batting effort and scored 68 in their second, taking 61 deliveries for his fifty, with five and two sixes, the pair off Bashir's's pitching. Jacob Bethell made 68 before a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who took a low catch at shin level.

Cox showed similar consistency, and followed his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a scoring rate of one. He produced some exceptionally elegant shots on the way, including a straight hit and a hook against successive Brydon Carse deliveries to achieve his fifty.

Following his absence from the initial day of this match with a stomach issue and provided only the least significant of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when eventually provided the opportunity, with McKinney and Jordan Cox part of his three dismissals.

This report will update