London, January 13
Uncapped middle-order batsman of Indian origin Ravinder Singh Bopara was today named as the replacement for injured Kevin Pietersen in the England one-day squad.
The 21-year-old right-hander was part of the England Cricket Board Academy squad that played in Perth during the Ashes Test series.
Bopara, who has also been named in England’s provisional squad for the World Cup, will join his new team-mates after training in Australia with the England academy.
Although Ed Joyce is expected to take Pietersen’s place when England play New Zealand in Hobart on Tuesday, Bopara is likely to make his international debut before the series is over.
Born to Punjabi parents in East Ham, Bopara impressed enough to find a berth in the England team for the Under-19 World Cup in 2003. “Puppy”, as the 5’10” top-order batsman is known as, earned a professional contract with Essex at an the age of 17.
Also included in the England A squad for the West Indies tour, Bopara, who can also chip in with military medium pace, found the going tough in the Caribbean but struck form in country cricket and was in fact in England’s preliminary team for last year’s ICC
Champions Trophy.
Currently touring Australia with the English Academy squad, Bopara once told William Greaves, the co-founder of Capital Kids Cricket that he wanted to be the “English Tendulkar” and his other idol was VVS Laxman.
His father, Charanjit Singh Bopara, was born in India and came to London as a boy. Bopara had little difficulty passing the Norman Tebbit Test, named after the former Tory Chairman, who had remarked that Asians could not be British unless they supported England in a Test match against country of their birth.
Bopara starred with a 46-run knock off 52 balls in Essex’s win over Pakistan at Chelmsford last year.
Meanwhile, England Chairman of Selectors David Graveney said Bopara had been brought in because “he is a middle- order batsman who impressed during his time with the academy in Perth earlier in the winter”.
“We are happy with the top order of Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell and we also see the injury to Pietersen, while unfortunate, as offering a great chance for Ed Joyce to stake his claim for a place in the World Cup squad,” he said.
“Bopara has been a regular with Essex during their one-day successes in recent years and we decided that he was the best option available,” he added.
Pietersen, who broke a rib yesterday after his missed a pull shot against Glenn McGrath, will fly home early next week.
The injury ruled him out of the one-day tri-series but he is expected to return in five weeks and should be fit for the World Cup in March-April.
— PTI, UNI
