Is Ravi Bopara finished?

For my money he has one innings left. Anything less than a 100 and he may never play Test Match cricket again. Strauss will be coming back into the side for the Kiwi tour. Moreover if Flintoff gets fit then it's surely Ravi that gets the bullet.

Bit of an overreaction. I thought you loved the younglings?

Bopara's a fine young player, elevated to international cricket way too early. For his "bowling"!

Yes, unless he does something decent in the second innings he'll probably get dropped. But he'll get over it and be back in the mix soon enough.

He's a good cricketer.

Promoted from the ODI side too early. Neither his batting nor his bowling is currently Test standard. Collingwood could perform the same role as Bopara and he therefore adds nothing to the Test side. I think the selectors see him as a potential replacement for Flintoff if his injury proves long-term which is why he is being persisted with.

He is way too high in the order at 6. He needs to play more ODI cricket batting higher in the order and bowling his full quota of overs, preferably first-change, before he should be considered for more Test cricket. I wouldn't take him to NZ but with the present England set-up you never know.

They should have selected Owais Shah instead.

Dello wrote:Bopara's a fine young player, elevated to international cricket way too early.

Yeah, he'll be back in a couple of years in the tests.

W G GRACE wrote:They should have selected Owais Shah instead.

Aye.

THICKEDGE wrote:For my money he has one innings left. Anything less than a 100 and he may never play Test Match cricket again. Strauss will be coming back into the side for the Kiwi tour. Moreover if Flintoff gets fit then it's surely Ravi that gets the bullet.

Hysterical over-reaction. If you had been around at the time, I daresay you would have written off Graham Gooch too!

Bopara will come good - he has the talent.

If the selectors think he may turn into a replacement for Flintoff they're madder than we could imagine. With the best will in the world, the resourceful tubby dwarf is not going to metamorphise into a big hitting fast bowler.

As Dello and would have made a good Sir Walter Raleigh have basically said, he's been thrown into fray far too early and will be back if he's good enough.

Who picks the team these days anyway? I lose track of these things.

David Graveney, Geoff Miller and ...? I thought there was a third...?

I am beginning to think that Fletcher might not in the end really be the villain everyone was making him out to be. It was vawny busy with his groupism stuff all along. Poor Fletch just had to join in for sake of keeping vawny in good humor.

Shah is a pro on low, slow wickets and he showed that in Mumbai test where the wicket was as slow as this one. He was also excellent against spin then why in hell is he sitting out. At most he is vulnerable against extreme pace, horses for courses he should have been in the XI.

Did a search on 'Selector' at the ECB website and found this gem:

http://www.ecb.co.uk/england/npower-tests/graveney-eyes-era-of-success,6138,EN.html

Rachel wrote:David Graveney, Geoff Miller and ...? I thought there was a third...?

Moores?

*Buckaroo* wrote:I am beginning to think that Fletcher might not in the end really be the villain everyone was making him out to be. It was vawny busy with his groupism stuff all along. Poor Fletch just had to join in for sake of keeping vawny in good humor.

Shah is a pro on low, slow wickets and he showed that in Mumbai test where the wicket was as slow as this one. He was also excellent against spin then why in hell is he sitting out. At most he is vulnerable against extreme pace, horses for courses he should have been in the XI.

Shah should definitely feature in all 7 limited-over games against NZ as well as being given Bopara's spot in the Test Matches.

You feel for Shah though. Must have felt he had the test spot after really good outings with the ODI side and then wasn't picked. With England having this poor series, they are bound to recall Strauss and that could be the end for some time.

Bopara was given a tough job being thrown in here, and has proved not to be quite up to it yet - can't blame him today of course, he got an unplayable ball, but unlike the ODI game he's clearly struggled to come to terms with Test cricket.

You can't write someone off as a failure at the age of 22 though. Some people think we shouldn't even be writing off failures at 38, so he has a fair few years in which to make it!

Rachel wrote:David Graveney, Geoff Miller and ...? I thought there was a third...?

Vaughan.

This thread might well have been titled 'My names Thickhead and i'm a knob' ...

JKLever wrote:This thread might well have been titled 'My names Thickhead and i'm a knob' ...

Overly sensitive about Bops are we JK ?

Nah, feeling like carp and in a ratty cant be arsed mood...

JKLever wrote:Nah, feeling like carp and in a ratty cant be arsed mood...

Extra LARGE single malt, squeeze o' lemon, dash o' sugar topped up with hot water ...
Stir well ... before downing in one.
Then hit the sack for 10 hours.
Job done.

One syringe heroin.
One tourniquet.
Place tourniquet around arm until vein pops up. Push needle into vain. Depress syringe in a steady motion with thumb.
And repeat as desired.

"Oh, it's such a perfect day - I'm glad I spent it with you. Oh, such a perfect day, you just keep me hanging on..."

Aye, sounds good.

Re - Bops - i'd echo what most have been saying here - good player picked way too early. Said it at the time he was selected too.

I'm not having this billy big bollox allrounder toss though....

One syringe heroin.
One tourniquet.
Place tourniquet around arm until vein pops up. Push needle into vain. Depress syringe in a steady motion with thumb.
And repeat as desired.

repeat the dose ??????????
Deed.
The man's farkin' deed I tell ya ...

Dello wrote:

"Oh, it's such a perfect day - I'm glad I spent it with you. Oh, such a pefect day, you just keep me hanging on..."

You call Lou Reed a remedy?

Go and listen to Metal Machine Music.

64 minutes of feedback.

If that doesn't cheer you up, nothing will.