Root struggles to make impact in warm up match

Ben Stokes has followed up his six-wicket haul with a knock of 84 against the Lions XI in Day 2 of their warm-up match.

The England captain struck the ball with gusto, having managed to hit eight fours and three sixes before being caught by Shoaib Bashir after 111 balls at the crease.

England's top three would cash in on the runs with the opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, alongside former vice-captain Ollie Pope, who combined for 243 runs.

And while all got close, none of them were able to make a century, with Duckett getting the closest with 92 runs.

But the big surprise was Joe Root, who fell for just one run, which is not a positive omen as he attempts to score his first Test century in Australia in what will be his fourth tour Down Under.

Middle order specialist Harry Brook also struggled at Lilac Hill with the World No. 2-ranked Test batter only managing to make two runs.

From a bowling perspective, medium/fast pacer Matthew Potts, who is a part of England's 16-man Ashes squad, was the best performing, having managed to take three wickets, which helped see the Lions' restrict England's lead to just 25 runs as they were all out for 400.

The third and final day of the match will take place tomorrow.

The visitors’ official warm-up for the first Ashes Test began on Thursday with England meeting the England Lions at Perth’s Lilac Hill.

On Day 1 of the three-day tune-up match, the Lions batted first, scoring 382 with all-rounder Will Jacks putting his hand up for selection with 84.

The destroyer with the ball was captain Ben Stokes, who claimed an impressive 6/52… although taking a closer look at his wickets, the all-rounder clearly wasn’t thrilled with his own display.

With the highlights posted after Day 1, fans on social media couldn’t believe their eyes after viewing all of Stokes’ six wickets, with SEN Cricket’s Stuart Broad even commenting on an England cricket Instagram post of the haul, stating: ‘That’s the weirdest 5fer I’ve ever seen’.

Every single one of Stokes’ six wickets were genuine half-trackers which were shelled to the leg side.

Even Stokes himself had his head in his hands after four of the dismissals, with not one of them a piece of what’s typically considered good bowling.

Perhaps the lengths Stokes was bowling weren’t conducive to the grade cricket pitch, with those lengths instead being more likely to cause some damage on the Perth Stadium bouncy deck… or at least that’s what England fans will hope.

Check out Stokes’ bizarre wicket haul below

The other key piece of news on Day 1 was that speedster Mark Wood pulled up after his eight overs with hamstring tightness.

While it’s not great news for the injury-prone fast bowler, he’s expected to return to bowling on Saturday if precautionary scans come back clean.