Ravi Bopara comes replaces injured Morgan in England World Cup squad
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749’s injury woes are set to continue as Eoin Morgan is ruled out of the ICC 2011 World Cup in the Subcontinent with a fractured finger. Ravi Bopara has been drafted into the squad in place of the versatile middle order batsman.
The news was broken to the media by England coach Andy Flower at the Heathrow airport on the team’s arrival from the tour down under. "His [Morgan's] finger needs to be operated on, so that's a serious loss to us", Flower said.
"He's been a very influential limited-overs performer for us since he joined the England team. Ravi Bopara, who is a very exciting young cricketer in his own right, is going to be joining us and is flying back from the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 where
he is playing with the England Lions”, said Flower.
The news comes as a severe blow to England’s hopes of lifting the trophy that they have so far failed win since the inaugural tournament in 1975, and Morgan’s injury makes it all the more difficult.
Morgan has been one of the most consistent performers for England over the past couple of years and the fact was reiterated by Andrew Strauss’s statement, when he said that Morgan had been his team’s stand out batsman in One Day Internationals
(ODIs) in the past 18 months.
Strauss also said that the middle order batsman has been devastated by the news as he won’t be getting a chance to showcase his talents and skills at the grand stage. But at the same time Strauss also feels that Morgan is a young player
and has it in him to come back strong from injury to represent his country in future assignments.
The England captain remains confident that his team is more than capable of managing without key players.
England coach, Andy Flower, also maintained a positive spin and said that no one in the squad is ever irreplaceable and Bopara is a very handy player to have in the squad. He said that his slow right arm bowling may be a key element in
the tournament and may come to England’s good.
Bopara, who represented Kings 11 Punjab in the Indian Premier League has not been a part of England’s squad in recent months and only played in 10 ODIs in 2010 with a best of 45 runs from 16 deliveries against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 at Birmingham.
In 2008 Ravi scored two half centuries for England on the tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in 2008 and has playing experience on Subcontinent pitches.
"[Bopara] hasn't had a chance to play for us recently; he has been playing a lot of cricket around the world and he is desperate to get back in the ranks, this is his opportunity and we like what he can bring to the game”, said Strauss
about Ravi Bopara.
Apart from Morgan, England are also sweating over no less than 5 players’ fitness in the 15 man squad for the World Cup with Paul Collingwood, Tim Bresnana, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489, and James Andersen all facing a race against time to get fit for
the extravaganza.
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