Ollie Pope Cements Position to England Cricket's No 3 Role with Bold 90 Versus Lions
It is tough to know how significant of England's practice game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes series battle begins 10km away at the Perth venue on Friday – a short span in space or time but worlds away in significance and environment – but if it achieved solely enhancing Ollie Pope's assurance, that alone has rendered the exercise valuable.
The English side's number three batsman – that point is undoubtedly completely certain – followed his initial innings century by adding an additional 90 in the second innings, and what was impressive was not so much the number of scored runs but the manner in which they were made. On occasion the 27-year-old seemed commanding, smashing a twelve boundaries and a couple of maximums, timing the ball sweetly but with fierce determination.
This was just a exhibition game versus a England Lions squad that used a total of 11 pitchers across a match staged in front of a few dozen of spectators in a public park, but it was still 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 sped the team across the winning target with a series of boundaries.
Crawley and Duckett, the other two major first-innings successes, both fell short in the second knock, while Joe Root made further points – 31 on this time – but was not enormously more assured, prior to being puzzled and duly dismissed by Will Jacks. Brook experienced an similar outcome shortly after.
Shoaib Bashir – who concluded the match having bowled 12 overs for either team – will have found part of the hitting he faced pretty hostile. His first six deliveries versus the Lions cost 56, with Ben McKinney taking advantage to deliveries that if not entirely loose was certainly not very threatening.
At the end the sixth of that period, England's remaining three pitchers had given away almost precisely the same amount of runs – 57 – from 15, though the bowler became a somewhat less generous later on, allowing 27 from his final six. He took one dismissal, making a sharp, low grab, leaning to his right, to end Jacob Bethell's innings for 70, off 80 deliveries.
Jacob Bethell, compensating for managing only three runs in the initial innings, was among three fifty-scorers in the Lions' top order. Ben McKinney's scores from opener were more reliable than those from their number three: he scored 66 in their first innings and scored 68 in their second innings, using 61 balls to reach his half-century, with five fours and two six-hit shots, the pair against Bashir's deliveries. Jacob Bethell got to 68 then a poor shot to Stokes at cover position, who took a stooping grab at shin level.
Jordan Cox showed like reliability, and built on his first-innings 53 with another 57, at about a run per delivery. He produced a few remarkably handsome strokes on the way, featuring a straight hit and a hook against successive Brydon Carse deliveries to reach his fifty.
After missing the opening day of this match with a stomach issue and contributed only the least significant of contributions to the second, Carse delivered superbly when finally provided the chance, with McKinney and Jordan Cox included in his three wickets.
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