Ollie Pope Reinforces Position to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Strong 90 Against Lions
It's tough to know how relevant of the English team's warm-up fixture will prove important when their Ashes contest kicks off not far at Perth Stadium on Friday – no distance in space or time but worlds away in importance and mood – but if it managed only strengthening Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has made the exercise beneficial.
England's number three batsman – that point is undoubtedly totally established – followed his initial innings century by scoring a further 90 in the second, and the truly impressive was not so much the number of runs but the way in which they were made. Periodically the young batsman seemed commanding, smashing a dozen fours and a pair of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with aggressive determination.
It was only a friendly against a England Lions side that employed exactly 11 bowlers across a contest held in amid a handful of people in a local ground, but it was still very noteworthy. For the record, England, needing of 202 after the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets in hand once Jamie Smith sped the team past the finish line with a series of fours and sixes.
Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining big first-innings achievers, both were dismissed in the follow-up, while Root scored further points – 31 on this instance – but was not significantly more assured, then being bemused and duly dismissed by Jacks. Brook met an similar end shortly after.
Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having bowled 12 overs for both teams – will have faced part of the strokes he faced rather challenging. His opening six overs against the Lions conceded 56, with Ben McKinney tucking in to bowling that if not exactly loose was surely not very dangerous.
At the end the sixth over of those deliveries, the English side's three other bowlers had given away nearly exactly the identical number of points – 57 – from 15, though the bowler turned a somewhat less generous as time passed, allowing 27 from his last six. He took one wicket, making a clever, low catch, diving to his right side, to end Jacob Bethell's knock for 70, from 80 deliveries.
Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing only a small score in the first innings, was a member of three players players with fifties in the Lions team's leading batsmen. Ben McKinney's scores from opening batsman were steadier than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their first batting effort and scored 68 in their second innings, taking 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five and two maximums, both from Bashir's pitching. Bethell got to 68 then a mis-hit to Stokes at cover, who made a low catch at low down.
Jordan Cox showed like consistency, and built on his initial innings' 53 with an additional 57, at about a scoring rate of one. There were a few remarkably elegant shots en route, featuring a drive down the ground and a hook against consecutive Carse balls to reach his 50 runs.
Following his absence from the initial day of this match with a stomach issue and contributed only the smallest of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched superbly when eventually provided the chance, with Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three wickets.
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