Cricket Update | Final day of England v England Lions

England beat England Lions by five wickets

Was this a useful exercise for England's players?

Author | Peter Jones

Stadium | Lilac Hill

Ollie Pope underlined his fine early tour form as England wrapped up a five-wicket win over the England Lions in their sole Ashes warm-up match. Fresh from a century in the first innings, the 27-year-old added a fluent 90 at Lilac Hill in Perth, peppering the boundary with 12 fours and two sixes.

Chasing 202 after the Lions declared on 251 for six, England completed the job with a burst of late runs from Jamie Smith, whose brisk 39 helped settle the contest. 

READ MORE | First day of England v England Lions

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The openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, could not repeat their earlier efforts and mustered only three runs between them. It was a similarly subdued start on Friday for Joe Root and Harry Brook, yet both found a touch more rhythm in the second innings. Root made 31 before falling to Will Jacks, while Brook was bowled soon after for 19.

The Lions had earlier built their total on solid contributions from three of the top four. Captain Tom Haines was removed by Brydon Carse after a steady start, before Ben McKinney and Jordan Cox followed, having made 68 and 57. Jacob Bethell top-scored with 70 before Shoaib Bashir claimed his only wicket of the match. Root and Josh Tongue added one apiece as the Lions called time on their innings at 251.

What does all this mean?

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brydon Carse on...

💪 Jofra Archer's fitness
🏟️ Playing at Optus Stadium
🏏 Expected conditions next week

And much more 👇

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 15, 2025

It is hard to know how much of this warm-up game will be remotely relevant when their Ashes campaign begins 10km away at Perth Stadium on Friday.

The whole match is light-years away in the overall experience and atmosphere from the real thing. If it achieved nothing more than boosting Ollie Pope’s confidence, that alone has made the exercise worthwhile. Michael Haldsworth, who will be flying over to Australia for the “main event” said: “A useful workout, but think it would have been better playing a local club side.”