Bopara turns World Cup woe into England joy

MANCHESTER (England)—Ravi Bopara had said the bitter memory of just failing to guide England home in a World Cup run chase inspired him to help steer the side to a thrilling win over India.
Essex all-rounder Bopara, 22, struck an unbeaten 43 and shared an England record eighth-wicket stand of 99 with the 21-year-old Stuart Broad (45 not out) as their side, who’d collapsed to 114 for seven chasing 212 to win, beat India by three wickets in the fourth one-day international here at Old Trafford.
The victory put England 3-1 up in the seven-match series, which they will claim if they win again at Headingley on Sunday.
Thursday’s success was all the more heartening for England as it was secured by the two youngest players in their team, both Bopara and Broad appearing in just their 13th one-day international.
But Bopara’s display was not the first time he’d been involved in a run chase on England duty.
One of the few highlights of England’s otherwise dismal World Cup campaign came in April when Bopara announced himself by scoring 52 off 53 balls against Sri Lanka in Antigua only to be bowled off the last ball of the match in a nailbiting two-run defeat. “I’ve never really been in a run-chase situation like that with Essex, but I have with England in the World Cup and I used that,” said Bopara.
“I thought out there that this was a similar situation and I didn’t want to go through the disappointment of not finishing it off this time - you learn from your mistakes I guess and I didn’t want to fall short again.
“I don’t think too much about the end result (in situations like that), I just think about what I need to do at the time and that helps me stay calm,” Bopara explained.
“All you need to think about in that situation is let’s get 10 more runs, and when you get that 10 you just have to get 10 more.”
This series has seen Bopara in action against Sachin Tendulkar, his childhood hero, whom he spoke to during India’s match against England Lions, the national A side, earlier this season.
“I had a brief chat with him during the Lions game and he gave me good advice,” Bopara recalled. “He gave me 25 minutes of his time and I know that’s a precious commodity for him, he’s a very nice man.
“As a kid growing up you look at guys who excite you and he was the one, he plays the perfect shots plus the amount of runs he scores...he was the guy, he was the No 1 in the world. “I tried to copy his style when I was young, who wouldn’t? I guess some of that has carried on now, but I’ve added my own style to the way I bat.”
Someone else Bopara has looked up to has been Essex great Graham Gooch, the former England opening batsman and captain.
“He’s been a big big influence, still is,” Bopara said. “Since I first met him at 15 he’s given me good advice, told me to work on my bowling so that if it comes down to a choice between me and another batsman I would get the nod.
“I even spoke to him before play on Thursday, he was in the middle doing a pitch report I think and he told me to play straight, do the basics right and get in before I started to try to whip it around. He was dead right.”
Now Bopara, also a medium-pace bowler, hopes to break into England’s Test team. “Any cricketer is looking to make that step but these are exciting times for me and I’m not looking too far ahead”.—Agencies