Ollie Pope Strengthens Position to England's No 3 Spot with Impressive 90 Against Lions
It's tough to gauge how relevant of the English team's practice game will prove important when their Ashes series contest starts a short distance away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in geography or duration but worlds away in import and mood – but if it achieved only strengthening Ollie Pope's assurance, that on its own has rendered the exercise beneficial.
The English side's No 3 – that point is surely totally established – followed his first-innings ton by scoring an additional 90 in the second, and what was remarkable was not so much the total of scored runs but the style in which they were scored. At times the player seemed dominant, striking a twelve boundaries and a pair of sixes, connecting with the ball sweetly but with devilish determination.
This was only a practice match versus a Lions squad that deployed fully 11 bowlers across a match held in before a few dozen of people in a local ground, but it was nevertheless very praiseworthy. For the record, England, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their second innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets after Jamie Smith raced the team past the finish line with a flurry of fours and sixes.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, the two other major first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root made additional runs – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more convincing, then being confused and accordingly bowled by Will Jacks. Brook suffered an identical end shortly after.
Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having delivered 12 overs for either team – will have faced a portion of the strokes he bowled to rather aggressive. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to deliveries that if not completely wayward was surely not very intimidating.
By the conclusion the sixth over of that period, the English side's other pitchers had allowed almost precisely the equivalent number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir turned a slightly less generous in time, allowing 27 from his final six. He claimed one dismissal, making a smart, low snare, leaning to his right, to finish Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 balls.
Bethell, redeeming managing merely three runs in the initial innings, was a member of three players half-centurions in the Lions team's top order. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were more consistent than those from their No 3: he scored 66 in their initial knock and improved by two in their follow-up, using 61 deliveries for his half-century, with five boundaries and a couple sixes, both against Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell reached 68 then a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who made a low grab at shin level.
Cox exhibited similar steadiness, and followed his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at slightly more than a run per delivery. There were a few remarkably elegant shots en route, featuring a drive down the ground and a pull against consecutive Carse deliveries to attain his half century.
After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach issue and made just the smallest of inputs to the follow-up, Brydon Carse delivered excellently when finally provided the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Cox among his three scalps.
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