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Ravi Bopara

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Ravi Bopara
Personal information
Full name
Ravinder Singh Bopara
NicknamePuppy
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
RoleAll-rounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 637)1 December 2007 v Sri Lanka
Last Test6 May 2009 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 202)2 February 2007 v Australia
Last ODI3 April 2009 v West Indies
ODI shirt no.42 (24 in twenty20)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2002–2008Essex
2006–2008MCC
2009-PresentKings XI Punjab
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 5 38 81 126
Runs scored 289 747 4,819 3,137
Batting average 41.28 28.73 42.27 35.24
100s/50s 2/0 0/4 12/19 4/18
Top score 143 60 229 201*
Balls bowled 246 277 6,091 2,436
Wickets 1 5 90 78
Bowling average 155.00 48.40 44.66 28.60
5 wickets in innings 0 0 1 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 1/39 2/43 5/75 4/52
Catches/stumpings 2/– 12/– 54/– 35/–
Source: CricketArchive, 9 May 2009

Ravinder Singh ("Ravi") Bopara (born 4 May 1985, Forest Gate, Newham, London) is an English cricketer who plays for Essex and England. He is the second Sikh to play cricket for England, after Monty Panesar. He was first called up the England ODI team in 2007, before a difficult Test debut in Sri Lanka saw him dropped in early 2008, however he regained his place for one match in the winter of 2008-09 where he scored a century. He then followed this with the number three position at Lords cricket ground, scoring a second century.

Bopara has also enjoyed success in the Indian Premier League, where he plays for the Kings XI Punjab.

Career

Early days

Educated at Brampton Manor School, Bopara made his first-class debut for Essex in May 2002. In 2003 and 2004, he played several matches for England Under-19s, including in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2004.

Bopara playing against Cambridge UCCE, April 2005

In the 2005 season, he scored 880 first-class runs, including his first first-class century. He also hit 135 in a non-first-class match against the touring Australians, putting on 270 for the second wicket with Alastair Cook,[1] and in 2006 he was selected for England A in their March tour of the West Indies, as well as their matches against the touring Sri Lankans and Pakistanis in the summer of that year. In July, he was selected in England's 30-man provisional squad for the 2006 Champions Trophy.

England player

In January 2007 Kevin Pietersen sustained a rib injury in England's first One Day International against Australia, keeping him out of the remainder of the series. Bopara was called up as his replacement, and made his ODI debut on 2 February. Later that month, he was named in the England squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup,[2] and he played his second ODI in England's second match of that tournament. In England's match against Sri Lanka, Bopara was named man of the match for his 52 off 53 balls, which brought England to within three runs of victory from a seemingly hopeless position.[3][4] The partnership for the seventh wicket was an English World Cup record and was the second record partnership made by Bopara in the tournament, following his record fifth wicket partnership with Paul Collingwood against Canada.[5] On 30 August he again featured in a prominent tail end partnership, this time with Stuart Broad as the pair added an unbeaten 99 for the 8th wicket to defeat India at Old Trafford. Bopara finished 43 not out.

In June 2007, he made his highest ever first class score, against Northamptonshire striking 229 runs off 391 balls, including 27 fours, and one six. He was picked in the squad for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in September 2007, but was injured and was unable to go.

Test debut

He made his Test debut in the tour to Sri Lanka in December 2007 but had a poor series, scoring only 42 runs in five innings including three ducks, and taking only one wicket at an average of 81. One BBC commentator described him as "well out of his depth at Test level",[6] and Bopara was subsequently selected in the ODI squad but not the Test squad for the tour to New Zealand in early 2008.[7] However, he returned to the Test squad for the fourth Test against South Africa in August 2008, following a good season for Essex in the County Championship.[8]

On 4 June 2008, Bopara recorded his highest List A score in the quarter finals of the Friends Provident Trophy. He scored an unbeaten 201 runs off 138 balls, including 18 fours and 10 sixes. [9] Bopara's score was just the eighth instance of a double hundred in the history of List A cricket.[citation needed] On 9 September 2008 Bopara was then named in England's 15-man squad for the inaugural Stanford Super Series in Antigua. There, England took on the Middlesex Crusaders and Trinidad and Tobago before facing the Stanford All-Stars on November 1. The winning players in that match would have earned $1million each, with a further $1million being shared between the four players left out of the side.[10] This never came to fruitition, however, as England fell to a heavy defeat in the final. The same day, Bopara was also handed an Increment Contract by the ECB. He received a one-off payment and will earn points for every Test and One-Day International he plays in over the next 12 months. Should Bopara reach a certain number of points, he will be awarded full Central Contract status.[11]

Success against the West Indies

On 18 February 2009, Bopara, along with Amjad Khan, was invited to join the England Test squad on their tour of the West Indies as cover for Andrew Flintoff who was struggling with a hip injury. He scored 124 not out in a warm up match, earning him a place in the 4th test against the West Indies. In the first innings he scored his first Test century with 104 off 143 balls before being caught.[12] He was dropped for the next Test of the series, however he was re-selected for the first Test of the home series against the West Indies on May 6.[13] There he scored his second, and consecutive, Test century for England in the first match of that series, scoring 143 runs from 186 balls. In celebration, he indicated to the dressing room that he awaited his entry on the Lords notice board. Andy Flower later commentated that Bopara had planned to reach his hundred with a single: "He wanted to get to his hundred with a single so he could run up to the other end... And he played for it."[14] He then scored another century in the second test of the series at Chester le street, becoming only the fifth England player to score three consecutive centuries.[15]

Playing style

Although originally a specialist batsman, Bopara is now an improved medium-pace bowler and is developing into an all-rounder, especially in the shorter form of the game. He is also an agile fielder.

Notes

  1. ^ This article from Cricinfo gives Bopara's score as 134, but the scorecard from Cricinfo and the scorecard from CricketArchive both say 135.
  2. ^ Bopara wins place ahead of Loye, Cricinfo, 14 February 2007.
  3. ^ Scorecard from Cricinfo, retrieved 5 April 2007.
  4. ^ Match report from the BBC, retrieved 5 April 2007.
  5. ^ World Cup Partnership Records for England from Cricinfo, retrieved 5 April 2007.
  6. ^ England series rankings from the BBC Test Match Special blog, retrieved 23 December 2007.
  7. ^ Prior dropped as Ambrose gets his chance from Cricinfo, retrieved 4 January 2008.
  8. ^ Bopara replaces Vaughan in squad from BBC Sport, retrieved 4 August 2008.
  9. ^ Cricket Scorecard from BBC Sport, retrieved 4 June 2008.
  10. ^ "Harmison gets $1m Stanford chance". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  11. ^ "Vaughan handed England contract". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  12. ^ "Amjad Khan and Bopara to provide cover for Flintoff". CricInfo. February 19, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  13. ^ McGlashan, Andrew (May 5, 2009). "New-look England target momentum". CricInfo. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  14. ^ Miller, Andrew (May 12, 2009). "England shake up the system". CricInfo. Retrieved 2009-05-12.
  15. ^ "Cricinfo records". CricInfo. February 19, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-14.

References

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