Pope Strengthens Status to England's Number Three Role with Strong 90 Against Lions
It's hard to know how much of the English team's preparatory match will be remotely meaningful when their Ashes campaign kicks off 10km away at the Perth venue on the coming Friday – a brief gap in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it accomplished only enhancing Ollie Pope's self-belief, that by itself has made the effort worthwhile.
England's number three batsman – that much is undoubtedly absolutely clear – followed his initial innings hundred by notching a further 90 in the second, and the truly remarkable was less about the quantity of runs but the manner in which they were accumulated. At times the 27-year-old appeared imperious, smashing a dozen fours and a pair of maximums, timing the ball beautifully but with aggressive purpose.
It was just a exhibition game against a Lions side that employed fully 11 pitchers during a contest held in front of a handful of spectators in a local ground, but it was nevertheless very impressive. For the record, England, chasing of 202 following the Lions declared their follow-on innings on 251 for six, won by five wickets once Jamie Smith raced the team past the winning target with a series of fours and sixes.
Crawley and Ben Duckett, the remaining major first-innings performers, both fell short in the follow-up, while Root added several more runs – 31 on this instance – but was not enormously more dominant, then being confused and accordingly dismissed by Will Jacks. Harry Brook experienced an similar fate a little later.
Bashir – who finished the match having bowled 12 bowling spells for either team – will have found some of the strokes he faced quite challenging. His initial six overs versus the Lions cost 56, with McKinney tucking in to deliveries that if not exactly loose was certainly not very dangerous.
At the end the sixth spell of that period, the English side's remaining three bowlers had given away nearly exactly the same number of runs – 57 – from 15, though Bashir became a somewhat less giving as time passed, conceding 27 from his final six. He claimed a single wicket, taking a smart, low snare, diving to his right, to conclude Bethell's batting stint for 70, facing 80 balls.
Bethell, compensating for achieving just a small score in the opening knock, was among three players fifty-scorers in the Lions' leading batsmen. McKinney's performances from opening batsman were steadier than those of their No 3: he made 66 in their first innings and improved by two in their follow-up, using 61 balls to reach his 50 runs, with five boundaries and two six-hit shots, both off Bashir's pitching. Jacob Bethell got to 68 before a mis-hit to Ben Stokes at cover position, who held a low catch at shin level.
Jordan Cox showed comparable reliability, and built on his first-innings 53 with an additional 57, at about a run a ball. He played a few exceptionally elegant strokes during his innings, such as a straight hit and a hook from successive Brydon Carse balls to reach his half century.
Having missed the opening day of this game with a stomach upset and contributed only the least significant of efforts to the follow-up, Brydon Carse pitched brilliantly when eventually provided the shot, with McKinney and Jordan Cox among his three scalps.
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