Will Bopara get anymore chances?

Whatever the sport there are always a few players who never seem to fulfil their true potential. One such example of this is could be Ravi Bopara. It seems that he has been around for a long time now despite only being twenty seven years of age. Bopara should just coming to his peak in cricketing terms, but has he played his last international game?

There had been a time when he was the talk of English cricketing as a potential star of the game. The Essex allrounder has played thirteen test matches and eighty three one day internationals. These figures indicate that he was never an established player in the England team.  His three centuries in thirteen tests is not really bad going, many other players would like this conversion rate in test cricket. This should have been the start that established him in the side.

The problems all started when Bopara made his Ashes debut, he failed pretty badly in that series and was subsequently dropped from the test side. It probably was the right decision at the time to axe him from the side, although Eoin Morgan his replacement in the side only did slightly better.  Since this time Ravi Bopara has been in and out of the side. Normally drafted in again after some other player has failed. The only question is if Bopara will get another chance to play test cricket? He had to drop out the squad last summer for personal reasons and saw his name drop down the pecking order. Now Joe Root and Johhny Bairstow are both ahead of him as well as Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler and James Taylor. These same players also have pushed Bopara out of the one day side.

What was surprising is that Bopara had been selected in the squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy. Many people believe that he has had too many chances. Alistair Cook once stated that Bopara had more talent than he did, the difference probably is in mentality.

I personally believe that he is good enough to win back his place but I do not see it happening. So this probably means that Ravi Bopara could be added to the long list of players who did not fulfil their potential, the other names on this list include Mark Ramprakash and Graham Hick. These two players were rated higher than Brian Lara at youth levels, with Ramprakash outscoring the West Indian legend in a youth world cup.