Bopara gets Cook backing

5 August 2008

Ravi Bopara averages 63 in the LV County Championship during a prolific summer

Alastair Cook believes Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara is ready for another crack at Test cricket with England after bouncing back from a "reality check" in Sri Lanka last winter.

Bopara made his debut for England in Australia in early 2007 as a one-day player, replacing the injured Kevin Pietersen, and was included in the World Cup squad later that winter.

But his Test breakthrough in Sri Lanka last December was a chastening experience – he made only 42 runs in five innings over three Tests, including three ducks.

He admitted that the tour provided him with a “kick up the backside”, and he has won a recall to the Test side on the back of a stunning season with Essex.

Bopara has scored 882 runs in the LV County Championship at an average of 63 to earn a place in the squad for the fourth npower Test against South Africa at the Brit Oval in place of former captain Michael Vaughan.

And Cook is confident the 23-year-old will make the most of his opportunity.

The opening batsman said: "Ravi has earned the right to play. He didn't perform as well as he would have liked in Sri Lanka. Maybe it was a wake-up call for him.

"I think it was a bit of a reality check regarding just how tough cricket can be. But he has gone back to Essex this summer and you can't argue with anything he has done.

"He is one of the leading first-class run-scorers this season so he demands to be picked.

"He also got a double hundred in a one-day game with Leicestershire. Not many people have done that, not even the great Graham Gooch."

Cook has always been an admirer of Bopara's talent since he first spotted him as a youngster at Chelmsford.

He said: "When I saw Ravi as a youngster, at 18, he was the most talented youngster I've ever seen. Now he is learning how to develop that talent into scoring runs.

"Without building him up too much, there is definitely something there and he has got the potential to be extremely good."