Posted by We like it. Let’s put some mundane banalities into bullet point format to in no way support that.
Ravi Bopara
- Proper batsman who bats at three for his county
- One of the few batsmen in county cricket who you could consider to have been exceptional over the last few years
- Young
- Massively confident
- Likely to get better
Michael Vaughan
- Resilient and not intimidated by Test cricket
- Going to get worse
- Hasn’t actually scored a great many runs in a very long time
Owais Shah
- Bit mental
- Not done a right lot
Ian Bell
- Bit flaky
Conclusion
In short, we have more faith in Ravi Bopara doing the job than his rivals.
He might look worse than Bell, but anyone who tells you that technique is the most important thing for a Test batsman doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Ask Virender ‘see ball, hit ball’ Sehwag or Graeme ‘clumpy’ Smith.
Vaughan’s temperament is perhaps his strength, but how Bopara will cope with Test cricket is still largely unknown. He might respond just as well. Bopara seems like the type who might respond to big situations. He thinks he’s better than everyone else and you don’t get far without thinking that.
We said Bopara shouldn’t be discarded when he was first dropped and that droppage might prove the making of him, as it did for Graham Gooch. Since droppage Bopara’s scored runs remorselessly. He’s scored them everywhere. He even scored a one-day double hundred, which is just mental.
However, arguably the greatest benefit for the nation is that while he’s at the crease he’ll be a long way from any tiling jobs that need doing.
The only thing that concerns me about Ravi is he seems to be a compulsive hooker, but for once I think the selectors made the right decision in giving him a run at #3.
His bowling has also come on in leaps and bounds and I would definitely have him as third bowling change ahead of Collie.
Whhooaa there, KC!
Did you just express an opinion about Ian Bell?
Damn it. We’ve taken far too strong a stance there, haven’t we with ‘bit flaky’?
Perhaps modify to read “bit flaky, we hear”? Or is such blatant revisionism out of bounds?
It was at least less of an opinion about Bell than any of the others. GCW could write a book with his opinions on IRB.
I’d like to debate the notion of Ian Bell being a bit flakey.
Ian Bell might be a bit flakey, but then again he might not. I wouldn’t like to say either way. Time might tell, of course. But then again, even time might not lead us to a conclusive answer on this point.
Ravi Bopara has the potential to become one of England’s greatest batsmen.
Ian Bell is a good player but not a potential cricket great.
Michael Vaughan is on his way down.
It’s a no brainer!