County Championship Division One: Essex vs. Yorkshire - Day 1 Review
England batsman Ravi Bopara utilized Essex’s platform to pass on a timely reminder to the English selectors when he posted an individual score of 142 runs against a probing Yorkshire side on the opening day of the County Championship Division One at Chelmsford on Tuesday. With Ian Bell struggling with an injury, the 25-year-old right-hander prepared himself for a deserved recall to the national side for next week's opening Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Foster-c1644 who scored 61runs off 85 balls, powering Essex to a safe score of 353 runs for 6 at the end of Day 1.
The batsman friendly track was fully capitalized by the 25-year-old Ravi Bopara on the opening day of the championship as he stamped his authority to grab Essex a competitive score of 353 runs. Yorkshire’s attack failed to disturb Bopara throughout his 193-ball stay at the crease. Bopara was coming into the game against Yorkshire with two half centuries to his credit in the last two matches. He faced the Yorkshire attack with complete confidence as he smashed 19 boundaries to every corner of the ground at Chelmsford. His innings ended after Bopara edged a http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tino-Best-c2682 delivery which went straight into the hands of Adil Rashid at square leg.
Essex Captain James Foster won the toss and decided to start the four-day game with the bat. An opening stand of 97 runs between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-c84058 on the final delivery of the 23rd over while Cook followed him three balls later after giving an edge to Yorkshire’s wicketkeeper off a wide delivery from Patterson. Mickleburgh scored 38 runs off 90 balls that included seven fours to his credit. Cook was quick in scoring his 44 runs which came off 52 balls with five boundaries to his credit. Tom Westley’s wicket was Essex’s third wicket of the day. Tom scored 6 runs after facing 18 balls, four of which came through a boundary. However, the batsman was trapped on his pads by Steve Patterson on the last ball of the first session.
Essex came back from the lunch break with Ravi Bopara deciding to cut lose against a weak Yorkshire attack. Bopara along with Matt http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Walker-c95903 added another 80 runs to the scorecard for the 4th wicket stand. However, Walker departed in the 59th over when he slashed Rashid straight into the hands of Bairstow. Walker’s dismissal brought Essex captain James Foster to the crease and in partnership with a pugnacious Bopara, the duo played the most lucrative partnership of the day by scoring 124 runs from 26 overs, dragging Essex to a competitive first innings total. Both the players entertained the county lovers with a flurry of sweetly timed boundaries. However, Foster departed after contributing 61 runs before nicking Hannon-Dalby to Patterson at deep square-leg
Bopara followed the captain soon, leaving http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yorkshire-c867 captain tried six different bowlers against the strong and in-form Essex batting line-up with Rashid and Patterson being the most successful bowlers who shared two wickets each.
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