Like the many who will follow him, red-ball Ravi will be missed

Like the many who will follow him, red-ball Ravi will be missed

Rich Clarke

* Sign up to my FREE weekly County Cricket newsletter

These days, press releases rarely reveal actual news.

Nine times out of ten, Twitter has forewarned us of anything truly interesting and, on the other occasion, we have to consider what has been omitted to uncover the real story.

In fairness, this week’s statement from Sussex about Ravi Bopara was not quite that opaque. The headline and introduction trumpeted news of his new T20 contract. But the revelation was in his accompanying quotes.

“From now on, I will be focussing on T20 cricket,” he said. “I have loved playing red-ball cricket over the years and obviously have some incredible memories in Championship and Test cricket with Essex and England, but my aim now is to get the best out of myself in the T20 format and see where that can take me and the teams I play for.”

Bopara last played red-ball cricket in September 2019 when he scored a rather ignominious one from 21 balls as the Essex first innings collapsed at Somerset in the Championship finale. His side held on to add the title to the Blast victory a few days earlier. However, it was already apparent that T20 was filling Bopara’s future. He had been named in the Glasgow Giants squad for the inaugural Euro T20 Slam and, had the event not been postponed, he may have missed both victories.

Of course, Bopara is ploughing an increasingly well-worn furrow by giving up red-ball cricket. At 36, it makes perfect sense to maximise his earnings in a format that will pay more and place a fraction of the physical toll on his body.

The fast, inventive run-scoring and hard-to-hit medium pace that brought him 38 England T20 caps still makes him a sought-after player in Leagues around the world. His roll call includes IPL and Big Bash teams as well as some lesser-known outposts in Afghanistan and Bangladesh. With 7668 career runs to his name, he is only behind Alex Hales and Luke Wright in the list of English T20 batsmen. He was a shoe-in for the Hundred, even though he has largely failed to fire at London Spirit.

If you add in 120 ODIs for England, including a couple of World Cups, almost 12,000 first-class and 10,000 List A runs then you should have the impression of a player who exploited his talent to the full. However, with Bopara, it does not. He has certainly played an awful lot of cricket in his career. Almost two and a half of his life have been spent playing the white-ball game alone.

Yet were his runs and those games always important?

Let me nail my colours to the mast. I love Ravi Bopara, not only for his abilities but the panache with which he has always played the game. My frustration is that he should have been a player of significant innings in significant games. He has turned out to be the scorer of a significant number of runs for a significant number of teams in largely insignificant games. My fear is that this may be the blueprint for a whole raft of T20 nomads in the decades to come.

Of course, Bopara’s three back-to-back Test centuries against the West Indies in 2009 were hugely important. When he hit the latter two at Lord’s and Chester-le-Street inside eight days that May, it seemed the class he had exuded at Under-19s level would be realised. But then he contracted two symptoms of a familiar English cricket disease, being moved from his natural batting position and suffering from a lack of trust by the selectors. After a tough Ashes series, suddenly Jonathan Trott and then Paul Collingwood seemed more reliable options. Eoin Morgan and James Taylor would later block his path when county form pressed a case for re-selection. Certainly, there is a languid element to his body language at times and his reputation for run-outs, both of himself and his partner, fed into the same story. Yet 13 Test caps is a poor return for his rare red-ball abilities.

No-one who has played as much cricket in as many places as Bopara lacks resilience or determination. There was genuine disappointment at Chelmsford after his move to the south coast a few months after that famous success at Taunton. Especially as the beautiful belligerence of his lower-order runs had been pivotal to the stunning turnaround as Essex somehow won the T20 Blast.

Despite huge growth and popularity, the perception of white-ball cricket as a ‘lesser form’ of the game has been slow to change. All the whistles and bells may attract a new audience but, rightly or wrongly, it also seems to diminish its gravitas and integrity. Aside from the sharp ends of domestic knockout tournaments, the IPL and World Cups, too many short-form games are easy to forget. Yet Tests are still events and Championship wins are still historic.

No player ever has full control of their career. Form and fitness are seen to be the main determinants but reputation, opportunity and timing are just as important.

As a purist, I feel a certain sadness when a talent like Bopara calls time on the long-form game.

While his white-ball skills are worthy of the highest regard, I hope he understands the true significance of what he has left behind.

* This article first appeared in The Cricket Paper, get it every Sunday or subscribe here

* Sign up to my FREE weekly County Cricket newsletter

If you like cricket, please consider buying my book, Last-Wicket Stand: Searching for Redemption, Revival and a Reason to Persevere in English County Cricket

🏴‍☠️ Buy from Independent bookshop 💰 Buy from Amazon | 👨‍💻 Buy from me | 🇺🇸 Buy in USA | 🇦🇺 Buy in Australia

The intended consequence of diminished horizons

The intended consequence of diminished horizons
Cricket needs diversity from all sides

Cricket needs diversity from all sides
0