Essex: Ravi Bopara to stay
Essex has announced that a new deal for Ravi Bopara is now a virtual certainty as the England star prepares to fly to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 to play for KwaZulu-Natal.
Bopara's immediate future with Essex was thrown into doubt after the South East county side was relegated from division one of the county championship. However, the club has stressed that Bopara will stay
at Chelmsford despite strong speculation.
Talks between Bopara and Essex have been on going for the last few weeks. The player said there was no other county he wanted to play for but any deal couldn't be put together until Essex had a better
idea of the budget for next season.
This is extremely good news for a club that is not the richest or strongest in England. It will have a number of positive effects for both the club and player and there is next to zero chance that the
deal will now fall through.
Positive news
This is very positive for the club because there would have been genuine fears that Bopara could be tempted away from the county by a lucrative offer from another side in division one of the county championship.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 has suffered both on and off the field over the last two years and it's important Bopara stays because he has the ability to draw big crowds. He is the type of player that anyone will pay to watch
when he is in good form. This will keep attendances at Chelmsford high.
Bopara may have feared personally that Essex would not be in a position to give him the basics in the deal he asked for. The fact that a deal is so close means that he will not have to start thinking about
relocation and can focus on playing well for KwaZulu-Natal in the South African Twenty20 competition.
"The club are waiting for the ECB and PCA to agree the format of the competition before things can go further [next season's domestic competitions].
Once this situation has been clarified then the whole process will be able to be completed between the club and Ravi. Ravi
has risen through the academy system and has now developed into a top-class cricketer," said Essex chief executive David East.
Respected player
There is virtually no chance at all that talks between Essex and Bopara will fall through now they are dependant on the most minor of details. It is clear that Bopara is
a well respected and admired player at the county.
Essex batting coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-c60529 Gooch recently said that there would be no point at all in Bopara going elsewhere because he would not enjoy the same levels of respect and praise
that he gets with Essex.
"The club can announce that the discussions are ongoing and very close to completion.
Bopara has been a hugely influential player for the club and is an invaluable member of the team for the forthcoming 2011 season," added an Essex statement.
Betting advice
This news along with the expected arrival of Owais Shah at the county means that Essex is set to have a very strong batting line-up next season. Don't be at all afraid
to back Essex to win promotion back to division one of the county championship at the first time of trying.
Back Bopara to get a big hundred in any form of the game. He is a quality player that is capable of destroying any type of attack. Essex don't need to worry about throwing
him in at the deep end because he has proven over the last twelve months that he can perform at the domestic level of the game.
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