Pope Strengthens Claim to England's No 3 Spot with Impressive 90 Versus Lions
It is difficult to gauge how much of England's warm-up match will end up being important when their Ashes series contest kicks off not far at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in import and mood – but if it managed only boosting Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has rendered the exercise valuable.
The English side's No 3 – that point is undoubtedly absolutely clear – followed his initial innings hundred by adding an additional 90 in the second, and what was impressive was less about the number of runs but the way in which they were made. Periodically the player appeared dominant, hitting a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, hitting the ball sweetly but with fierce intent.
It was merely a exhibition game against a England Lions team that deployed exactly 11 bowlers across a match held in before a handful of spectators in a open field, but it was nonetheless hugely impressive. Officially, England, set a target of 202 once the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets in hand when Jamie Smith raced the team past the conclusion with a series of fours and sixes.
Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining big first-innings' achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root made several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was not significantly more dominant, before being bemused and duly dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar end soon afterwards.
Shoaib Bashir – who finished the fixture having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered some of the batting he faced pretty challenging. His opening six deliveries versus the Lions went for 56, with McKinney tucking in to pitching that if not exactly poor was surely not overly threatening.
After the sixth of those overs, England's remaining three bowlers had conceded almost precisely the equivalent total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a little less giving later on, allowing 27 from his remaining six. He claimed one wicket, making a clever, diving catch, leaning to his right side, to finish Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 balls.
Bethell, making up for achieving only three runs in the first innings, was one of a trio of players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's returns from opener were more reliable than the scores of their No 3: he made 66 in their first batting effort and improved by two in their second, taking 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five fours and a couple sixes, the pair off Bashir's pitching. Bethell reached 68 prior to a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover, who took a low grab at low down.
Cox displayed like consistency, and built on his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at about a run per delivery. There were some remarkably handsome hits during his innings, such as a straight drive and a pull shot against successive Brydon Carse balls to attain his fifty.
Having missed the first day of this match with a stomach upset and made just the least significant of efforts to the second day, Brydon Carse bowled superbly when eventually given the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three dismissals.
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