Bopara ignored for Morgan
In form Essex batsman Ravi Bopara has been ignored by the England cricket team Test selectors for Eoin Morgan of Middlesex.
Bopara has been in sparkling form for his county and has been scoring runs in nearly every game he has played for Essex in different versions of the game. However, as is the way with the ECB, the test selectors have opted for Morgan to replace Ian Bell in the England team to play http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
The only reason Morgan is currently in the test side is because of his exploits during the Twenty20 World Cup and the one day internationals against Australia but he has failed to get off to a good start in test cricket.
Many will find it strange and quite frankly insulting that Bopara has been over looked, not for the first time during his England career, when he has done all of the things that the selectors have asked of him.
Bopara
Bopara has worked hard at Essex ever since he fell out of favour with the people who control who comes in and who leaves the England set-up. He lost his test place during the last Ashes series and has been trying to make up for this ever since.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 man is the best batsman in the country at this moment in time. He has scored recent hundreds in both Twenty20 and forty over cricket for Essex as well as bagging another during a county championship game. It's difficult to see what else he could do.
He's also been bowling very well and has been taking wickets for Essex who utilise a part of his game that the England set-up seem to ignore. Bopara is not a bad bowler by any means but for some reason England have always been reluctant to use him for this skill.
National selector Geoff Miller said: "Bopara has been playing really well but we want to see a bit more from Eoin, he played well for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Middlesex-c817 in his last game. Yes, we want to win this match and win this series but we have an eye on the winter as well and we have got to make sure that the equation is sorted, so Eoin keeps his place."
Ashes
It seems a little strange for the selector of the national team to be saying that a player is going to keep his place well in advance of a huge international series. Miller's comments have basically stipulated that if Morgan gets one England hundred in the series against Pakistan then Bopara could get ten more for Essex and still not make it to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
It is equally confusing why England don't risk playing both of these players. Bopara's game is ideally suited to the fast and flat tracks in Australia and putting him back into the England team would eradicate any chance of his nerves being a problem against the Aussies.
Former England batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Marcus-Trescothick-c1898 added: "Ravi's been playing well but you've just got to earn your way back in. There's no doubt about it, he's a great player and he's going to come back soon but I think it's a good move to stick with the players they've got at present."
Betting advice
There is an enormous amount of pressure on Morgan to do well against Pakistan and he will have to produce the goods at some point during the series if he wants to play in the Ashes. If he doesn't produce the goods then Bopara is well placed to come into the team and take over. However, he may be out of form by that point instead of in form like he is at the moment.
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