Ravi to the Rescue

It is with sadness that England cricket's leading figures confirmed today that Eoin Morgan is to miss the World Cup in the sub-continent which starts in the next two weeks, his replacement has been named as Ravi Bopara, the Essex all-rounder.

This is a positive step-forward for the England one day team, that has taken a step back after the Ashes down under, well make that six steps back, as they lost the series to Australia, 6-1.  Admittedly, they could and maybe in hindsight, should have won the first two but unlike the test matches were scoreboard pressure led to the dominance of the test victory; the batsmen came undone when having to chase a target or even create that scoreboard pressure.  Only twice did they bat out the complete 50 overs allotted to them.  Part of the problem was the extra pace on the ball supplied by Shaun Tait and Brett Lee in this series, but too often players would reach 30 and then get out to a loose or lazy shot; only Jonathon Trott, who was thought to be a weak link for the line-up, has batted with conviction scoring two hundreds, but he himself had three single digit scores.

Personally, I was worried by Morgan's form, having been the 7th batsman on the test tour and waiting forever to make an impression on the tour it seemingly seemed to pass him by, his highest score came in the first T20 game and he got found out by Australia, who plugged his gaps.  Whereas, he was to be solid on the subcontinent working the gaps off of spin; Australia would try and attack him with pace which proved his undoing.  Last winter it was a century against Bangladesh that brought him to prominence, there his ability to hit over the top against spin and slow bowling led to the opinion that he would be more key to England's success than Pietersen.

However, with the inclusion of Bopara, England maintain the ability to have a heavy hitter down the order against slow bowling on slower pitches.  Bopara's favourite area is leg side with pulls and heaves over square leg as his maiden T20 century for Essex last summer was proof, but he has improved his scoring shots down the ground and through and over cover in the last year.  He is a plus because he can either open with Strauss, or come in down the order at 7 providing power down the order; he is interchangeable with Prior dependent upon feel and unlike Morgan he offers another bowling option and his ability to take pace off the ball and possibly bowling in tandem with Collingwood can put pressure on middle orders, his bowling has improved three fold in the last two seasons, he can bowl at the death (much like England wished Luke Wright would) incorporating a clever yorker into his repetoire.

The team now reads: Strauss, Prior (wk), Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Bopara, Swann, Yardy, Broad, Anderson.  With the option of Bresnan for Bopara or Yardy depending on pitch and opponent.  I would question the role of both Colly and Ravi, virtually the same player, but having six bowlers, seven if Trott can continue developing that area of his game; means the workload must be spread about but puts pressure on Broad and Anderson to get wickets first up and not have England rely on Swann and Yardy, where their tandem offence is where England's chances may ultimately lie.

Bopara is a plus for this squad and a welcome addition, but in spite of my headline stating he is coming to the rescue; he will not be the reason why England either fail or succeed in this World Cup.