Ravi 'NoHopara' Bopara

First topic message reminder :

Why exactly is he in the England one day sides? What does he add?

And perhaps more importantly what do Andy Flower and the rest of the England set up see in him?!

Almost lost us the game with the bat yesterday...

5 50s but his high-score 60, to me this looks he constantly gets himself and out. Yesterday he was brilliant but needs to go and make big scores.

LondonTiger wrote:

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:He nearly cost us the T20 bcoz he wanted to improve his average.

Dumbest post I have read on the new 606. Him and Patel did exactly what was needed. I am not a huge Bopara fan - but this rabid hatred is undeserved.


And for the supporters of James Taylor - he looks promising, but his runs have been scored against rather limited bowling attacks in the Second division and Sri Lanka A.

Strauss, Cook, Bopara and Morgan all play for Second Division sides too. When you average 50 in both formats, you must be pretty good and he does it in the worst First Class team in the country.

oi essex aint the worst county on the country

Glamorgan, I would say are the worst county in the country.

Eh? I was talking about Taylor and Leicestershire, who are rock bottom of Division Two.

To be fair Taylors CC year hasn't been spectacular, Leicestershire have relied a lot of him the last couple of years.

96 today, isn't too bad.

Very good innings, hats off sir.

He's doing his best to answer us critics isn't he.

Any other comments on Ravi's 96? Looked to me like we wouldn't have got the tie without him, and, had the rain not set in, he'd done enough that we should have gone on to get the win.

For the posters claiming that Luke Wright is a better option than Ravi, perhaps you might care to reassess that option?

Time for some humble pie

good to see NO HOPARA has become a rescue man for Eng
.

bopara has performed well in this series, getting runs, and trust me there have been worst players to have played for england more often than ravi.

Looks like Bopara is doing his best to cement his place at number 6. I have to say that I don't mind him being there IF we have a big hitter at 7 and Morgan at 5, he slots in pretty well and can keep the scoreboard ticking along. The problem will still come when he has to force the pace and hit sixes as I don't think he is a 50 off 30 balls type player, especially at international level.

ravi looks to keep the scoreboard ticcking over he isnt a hitter, he can just nudge it around

The ideal line-up would have a mix of hitters capable of clearing boundary and accumulators (stroke players/nurdlers).

Hitters available to England (in descending order of how I think Flower rates them):

Kieswetter
Pietersen
Stokes
Hales
Buttler


Acummulators
Cook
Trott
Bell
Taylor


We then have Morgan who is both and critical to the balance of the England team.

Finally Bopara. At international level Bopara has rarely shown the hitting power he demonstrates at Chelmsford, but Flower and Gooch seem to see him as a stand-in for Morgan.

Boapras role has been that of an accumulator but like all the other proper batsmen, bar Trott, hes suppossed to be able to smack the 6's as well.

Interestingly the 96 was exactly the sort of score Trott gets slaughtered for, slightly below the rate and leaving the hitters needing to do their jobs.


It was a good innings and a saviour, but still not enough to convince me he should be a first choice.

Cook, Trott, Bell, Morgan and KP should be the 5 proper batsmen.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Cook, Trott, Bell, Morgan and KP should be the 5 proper batsmen.

Add a biffer opener - and I am happy enough with Kieswetter - I am in general agreement. However the team need to be much more flexible about batting order. However this Top 6 still feels a little underpowered.

I do like Kieswetter opening. Doesn't always come off, as a player of that aggressive nature is prone to, but when he bats it is almost always at a strike rate in excess of a run a ball. Plays unorthodox shots too, but still has a solid technique.

cricketfan90 wrote:ravi looks to keep the scoreboard ticcking over he isnt a hitter, he can just nudge it around

if his bowling comes on a bit then he will be very useful for england in the odi format

LondonTiger wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Cook, Trott, Bell, Morgan and KP should be the 5 proper batsmen.

Add a biffer opener - and I am happy enough with Kieswetter - I am in general agreement. However the team need to be much more flexible about batting order. However this Top 6 still feels a little underpowered.

Now that England have won the ODI series, they should give Alex Hales a chance to open the batting with Kieswetter, with Cook moving down to 3 or resting from the team after a hectic year of playing test cricket.

Agree, it's time England to try to bring young players into the squad.

Because Stokes has set the standard?

Now that Stokes has been picked they need to give him a run of games to settle in and show what he can do. There have been many players picked who I didn't think would be good enough including Eoin Morgan so I would like to see him given a go in the next series at least. Can't help but feel like Buttler should have been picked as a more direct replacement for Morgan once he was injured though. There are lots of young batsmen around who will certainly play a role in England's future and I can't help but feel Ravi got his chance in this series because he can bowl rather than purely on batting but he has definitely done well. I agree with PSW about his 96 though, it was very good but took 111 balls so never got us completely above the rate which always meant that if he was out at any point along the way it would leave the new batsmen with a lot to do - scoring rate wise.

I have no issues with Ravi's scoring rate in the last game - it was always at a good rate throughout his innings.

A pity he got out, but he's taken a big step towards showing he's good enough.

in a fully fit side, we could have

Cook
kieswetter
Trott
Kp/bell
Morgan
Bopara
Stokes/Buttler/Taylor
Swann
Broad
bresnan
Anderson

Only 4 bowlers unless you play Stokes and Ravi bowls a couple of overs.

Well Stokes has the T20 to prove hes worth taking on tour, but when everyones fit theres a lot of competition for places, If hes in you can only really have 4 proper batsmen...is he really better for the side than Bell or Trott?

Id say that in a fully fit side thres no room for Bopara, even more so if Stokes does stay in. Its no good relying on him/Kp/Trott/Stokes to fill a 5th bowlers role as the norm.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Well Stokes has the T20 to prove hes worth taking on tour, but when everyones fit theres a lot of competition for places, If hes in you can only really have 4 proper batsmen...is he really better for the side than Bell or Trott?

Id say that in a fully fit side thres no room for Bopara, even more so if Stokes does stay in. Its no good relying on him/Kp/Trott/Stokes to fill a 5th bowlers role as the norm.

There is no room for Bell in the ODI side.I would pick Ravi over him.

ravi once again there at the end yesterday, i know bairstow played a quality innings, but ravi played his part yet again..

cricketfan90 wrote:ravi once again there at the end yesterday, i know bairstow played a quality innings, but ravi played his part yet again..

He's done well enough in these last few matches...

its good to see him getting some runs, we need to see it on a more consistent basis now

4-10 tonight should the title be changed to Ravi Supastara Bopara?

I am quickly becoming a Ravi fan.

Well that was outstanding from him to be honest.

i think i was the only originally who said, lets stick with ravi..

cricketfan90 wrote:i think i was the only originally who said, lets stick with ravi..

Poor Gregers must want to forget about this thread but it keeps getting brought up :P

Liam_Main wrote:Poor Gregers must want to forget about this thread but it keeps getting brought up :P

lol

I've always loved Ravi...

Well I'm nominating this for topic of the year!

Ravi's slowly winning me over. I would have him in the One Day formats on the back off this. Not convinced by him as a test batsman yet though.

robbo277 wrote: I would have him in the One Day formats on the back off this. Not convinced by him as a test batsman yet though.

Agreed. So far Ravi looks like a very good county player - and at test levle has succeeded when playing against weaker teams - such as his 3 consecutive Tons v WI.

Of course despite being our best ODI batsmen, I feel the same about Morgan when it comes to test cricket.

quality stuff from ravi.

cricketfan90 wrote:i think i was the only originally who said, lets stick with ravi..

You're a far wiser man than I am.

I'm sure you said that he needed a chance to build confidence and then when we'd see the real Ravi.

Is it bad to say I'm still unconvinced?

Well... "unconvinced" might not the right word. He's doing what has been asked of him. But he needs to keep going and keep improving - we've seen false dawns from him in the past and my worry is that it could just take a couple of poor performances for him to lose his confidence again and go back to the old Ravi.

But in terms of the ODI side, he's earned himself a run in the side and he's doing more to earn/keep a place than KP and Bell.

I would imagine we'll line up with the following against India:

01 Cook // 02 Kieswetter // 03 Trott // 04 Bell // 05 Bopara // 06 Bairstow // 07 Patel // 08 Bresnan // 09 Swann // 10 Dernbach // 11 Anderson

Or if KP is included, they'll probably play him over Bell.

for a part timer, ravi bowled very well.

[quote="cricketfan90"]i think i was the only originally who said, lets stick with ravi..[/quote]


err no . I can't find the other post or decipher the earlier one i posted I thought this autumn has been a great opportunity for him if he goes out and plays the game hes most suited to. Half way through the matches and Ravis done well, now can he follow it up when the one day team go to India.

m@tt wrote:Is it bad to say I'm still unconvinced?

Well... "unconvinced" might not the right word. He's doing what has been asked of him. But he needs to keep going and keep improving - we've seen false dawns from him in the past and my worry is that it could just take a couple of poor performances for him to lose his confidence again and go back to the old Ravi.

But in terms of the ODI side, he's earned himself a run in the side and he's doing more to earn/keep a place than KP and Bell.

I would imagine we'll line up with the following against India:

01 Cook // 02 Kieswetter // 03 Trott // 04 Bell // 05 Bopara // 06 Bairstow // 07 Patel // 08 Bresnan // 09 Swann // 10 Dernbach // 11 Anderson

Or if KP is included, they'll probably play him over Bell.

Finn>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Dernbach

Also No Patel plz.

Finn is not better in ODIs than Jade!