Dijitaliks News

He turned 40 earlier this year but the Northamptonshire player and Karachi Kings coach is not done yet

By Wisden Cricket Monthly

At some point during our chat in the back garden of a Hertfordshire coffeehouse, most likely between the account of his recent hundred for England Legends and his stated dream to win another Blast – whether that be for Northants, for whom he has a quarter-final coming up, or even one day his belovedly dysfunctional Essex – it hits me who Ravi Bopara reminds me of.

Now, for the tape: Bopara is one of my all-time favourite cricketers. Best be forewarned that this is likely to veer into hagiography if we’re not too careful. To me, Bopara – no, let’s go with Ravi – was chiefly a great idea who came within a couple of inside edges of becoming a great success. How we measure such things is subjective, of course, and we can get into that – weighing the numbers – in due course. But structurally and culturally, there can be no question that he was cut from different material, and that for a time he wore those threads for all they were worth. This is a cricketer who, with the money from his first England games, bought a chicken shop in East Ham, setting up a cosy bolthole for his family from where he briefly threatened to shake up the English game.