Has he got summat on the ECB? He must have because he forever gets picked when available, he has to be the most overrated player in the England setup at present. He will be named in the test team for India as well to replace James Taylor. Can any cricket fans on here shed any light into why he constantly gets picked for the England team?
Mark Ramprakash version II. Plenty of talent at county level, but rarely translates that to the international stage. Sadly, it demonstrates the lack of genuine all-rounders available at the moment.
I've seen him play a few times. He is very fluid in his strokeplay and can play all around the wicket. And he can bowl fairly tight too and gets a bit of swing at a modest pace. However, for me, he's flawed mentally. He's very weak willed and either let's teams get to him and goes into his shell or tries to hit his way out of it early and get out. I thought Bairstow would have been nailed on after his positive batting in the last test.
Bairstow should be the wicket keeper as well, give him the experience in the ODI's to eventually replace Prior in 18 months time after the 2 ashes series.
Ive just checked how old he is and your right, for some reason i thought he was 34, he must have had a bad paper round!!
Pretty harsh Gaz lad. In all honesty Bopara is probably one of the most talented players in the England set up however I think he probably has lacked consistency over the years. On his day he has ripped attacks apart and in the last ODI series he was our best player. Somebody also mentioned he has modest pace. He bowls at around 80-82 which is quicker than Broad and Bresnan are bowling at the minute. However he shouldnt be playing in this game instead of Bairstow due to his lack of form after his self made deselection for personal reasons.
I reckon you are probably right about it being a mental thing, it must be, there is nowt wrong with him as a cricketer, good batsman and more than useful bowling, but for some reason he keeps under-performing for England.
Agree, hence the Ramprakash reference. I think it's a mindset thing for Bopara, much like Ramps, Hick and others who have been labelled as the 'next big thing' but never really hit the heights expected. He's much more comfortable at the one day game where he can play his natural game without criticism and expectation, but he's going to struggle in the test arena until he gets his mental state right.