Bopara - what exactly is the point of him?

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Is it just me, or is anyone else increasingy puzzled by the latitude granted to the Essex man? He averages 30, thanks to lots of red ink, at a very ordinary strike rate & has only passed 60 once in 70 innings! Why is he still in the team? It certainly can't be because of his fielding, which is pretty ordinary. Do they really need his bowling now with 5 specialists in the side? Are the alternatives so utterly awful? Can anyone enlighten me?

i think bops has avearaged 80 with the bat and 14 with the ball this series.. lol what a performance

He only does it against the weaker sides though... This Australia side is no better than Bangladesh A.

Excellent Ravi excellent. Time for some humble pie, Shanks.

I think this thread highlights how good every one of our players are. Every time someone on here questions a player - and this year we've had Bresnan, we've have Tredwell, we've had Bell in one-dayers. and we've had Bopara - they deliver the goods.

yeah we question them all- back to questioning bres again because i want finn to have another crack

See I don't think it is a case of questioning Bresnan - we all know what a fine cricketer and valuable contributor he has been - but more a case of realising that it is an almighty struggle to hold Finn back.

If Finn is to play it is because he is deemed a bigger and different threat with the ball, not because Bresnan isn't good enough.

I really hope this is a corner turned for Bopara. There's 10 Tests from now until the end of the New Zealand tour and that's probably a fair time frame for him to show that he's capable at Test level.

liverbnz wrote:I really hope this is a corner turned for Bopara. There's 10 Tests from now until the end of the New Zealand tour and that's probably a fair time frame for him to show that he's capable at Test level.

Agreed. Though a failure against SA would probably be enough to see him axed, particularly if the team lose.

Fists of Fury wrote:See I don't think it is a case of questioning Bresnan - we all know what a fine cricketer and valuable contributor he has been - but more a case of realising that it is an almighty struggle to hold Finn back.

If Finn is to play it is because he is deemed a bigger and different threat with the ball, not because Bresnan isn't good enough.

Wow. Finally, someone understands what some of us have been trying to say.

we have loads of bowlers that are good enough.. SA is gonna be the stringest test though. I think i am questioning more at the moment because i want perefction

this time personal issues forcing him out of the game..

i worry about ravi at test level......he gets chances and either gets injured or issues come up, will it ever all fall into place for him?!