Ollie Pope Strengthens Status to England Cricket's No 3 Slot with Bold 90 Against Lions
It is hard to gauge how significant of the English team's practice fixture will prove relevant when their Ashes series contest begins a short distance away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – no distance in geography or duration but worlds away in import and atmosphere – but if it achieved nothing more than enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that alone has rendered the exercise worthwhile.
The English side's number three batsman – that much is certainly totally established – built on his initial innings ton by scoring another 90 in the second, and the truly remarkable was less about the quantity of runs but the style in which they were accumulated. On occasion the 27-year-old looked dominant, smashing a dozen fours and a two of sixes, connecting with the ball sweetly but with devilish determination.
It was merely a friendly against a England Lions side that employed exactly 11 pitchers during a match played in amid a small group of people in a public park, but it was still very impressive. For the record, the England team, needing of 202 following the Lions closed their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by a margin of five wickets when Smith raced the team past the conclusion with a stream of boundaries.
Crawley and Duckett, the two other big first-innings performers, both were dismissed in the second knock, while Root scored further points – 31 on this occasion – but was not enormously more dominant, prior to being bemused and subsequently dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook met an similar outcome a little later.
Shoaib Bashir – who ended the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found part of the batting he bowled to quite hostile. His opening six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney feasting to pitching that if not completely wayward was definitely far from dangerous.
By the conclusion the sixth over of those overs, England's remaining three bowlers had allowed almost precisely the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a slightly less leaky in time, giving up 27 from his final six. He claimed one wicket, taking a smart, diving catch, diving to his right side, to conclude Bethell's knock for 70, facing 80 balls.
Jacob Bethell, compensating for achieving merely three runs in the opening knock, was a member of three players half-centurions in the Lions team's leading batsmen. McKinney's returns from opener were steadier than those from their No 3: he notched 66 in their initial knock and went two better in their second, using 61 deliveries for his 50 runs, with five fours and two sixes, the pair from Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 prior to a mis-hit to Stokes at cover position, who took a bending grab at shin level.
Cox exhibited similar reliability, and backed up his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at just over a run a ball. He produced some outstandingly handsome shots en route, including a straight hit and a pull from successive Carse balls to reach his fifty.
Having missed the initial day of this fixture with a stomach upset and contributed merely the most minor of contributions to the second day, Brydon Carse bowled excellently when finally afforded the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three scalps.
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