Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England's Number Three Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions
It's difficult to gauge how significant of England's preparatory match will prove meaningful when their Ashes series battle kicks off not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in geography or duration but ages away in importance and atmosphere – but if it achieved nothing more than boosting Pope's confidence, that by itself has made the effort valuable.
The English side's number three batsman – this fact is certainly totally certain – built on his initial innings century by adding a further 90 in the second, and the truly notable was not so much the total of scored runs but the way in which they were scored. On occasion the 27-year-old seemed commanding, hitting a dozen fours and a couple of maximums, connecting with the ball beautifully but with fierce intent.
It was just a friendly against a Lions team that deployed fully 11 bowlers across a game staged in amid a handful of spectators in a open field, but it was still extremely noteworthy. For the record, the England team, chasing of 202 following the Lions ended their second innings on 251 for six, succeeded by five wickets once Jamie Smith sped the team over the finish line with a flurry of boundaries.
Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining major first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the second innings, while Root scored several more points – 31 on this occasion – but was far from more convincing, before being bemused and subsequently bowled by Jacks. Brook suffered an identical outcome a little later.
Shoaib Bashir – who finished the match having delivered 12 bowling spells for each side – will have encountered some of the strokes he faced rather hostile. His initial six deliveries versus the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to pitching that if not entirely loose was definitely not overly dangerous.
At the end the sixth of those deliveries, the English side's other bowlers had allowed roughly the identical total of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a little less generous in time, conceding 27 from his last six. He took a single wicket, holding a smart, low-down snare, falling to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 deliveries.
Bethell, making up for achieving merely three runs in the opening knock, was one of a trio of half-centurions in the Lions' top four. McKinney's returns from opening batsman were more consistent than those of their number three: he made 66 in their first batting effort and went two better in their second, facing 61 deliveries to reach his fifty, with five fours and a couple sixes, each against Bashir's's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a mishit to Stokes at cover, who held a low catch at low down.
Jordan Cox exhibited similar steadiness, and built on his first-innings 53 with a further 57, at slightly more than a run a ball. He produced some exceptionally beautiful shots on the way, featuring a straight hit and a pull off back-to-back Carse deliveries to reach his half century.
After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach upset and contributed just the most minor of efforts to the second, Carse delivered excellently when at last given the opportunity, with Ben McKinney and Cox part of his three wickets.
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