Ravi bopara

They have now won four games in a row and are fourth in the North group. Durham moved up to third with a four-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Chester-le-Street. In the South group, Hampshire consigned Middlesex to an 11th consecutive T20 defeat, while Essex cruised to a five-wicket victory over Sussex. Hampshire are third, below Surrey on net run rate but four points behind leaders Somerset, while Essex are two points further back in sixth. North group Yorkshire were in dire straits on 78-7 in the 14th over, batting first against Leicestershire, but David Wiese (50 not out off 32 balls) and Ben Mike (30 not out) combined to put on 78 to haul them to 156-7, the county's highest ever eighth-wicket stand in this format. They took that momentum with them into the field, and despite Wiaan Mulder's 46, the hosts were all out for 126. Thompson was on a hat-trick at the start of the final over, but ended the game with his third delivery as Michael Finan gave him a return catch. At the Riverside, an excellent knock of 55 from 30 balls by opener Graham Clark led Durham home with seven balls to spare against the Steelbacks. Leg-spinner Nathan Sowter followed his 5-15 in the previous game between the two sides with 4-14 to help restrict Northants to 161-7 batting first. Alex Lees (30) and Ashton Turner (31) provided the back-up for Clark and Durham were always well ahead of the rate before a wide from AJ Tye saw them to 162-6 and sealed their fourth win of the competition. South g...

Sussex 2nd XI posted a mammoth 324/7 against Middlesex 2nd XI in the Second Eleven T20 Championship on Tuesday at the Richmond Cricket Club in London. Sussex won the match by a massive 194-run difference as Ravi Bopara starred with both bat and the ball. The English all-rounder scored a quickfire 49-ball 144 and scalped four wickets as Middlesex was bundled out for a paltry 130. Sussex takes on Essex on Wednesday while Middlesex will take on Hampshire next on May 25. More to follow.

The 36-year-old has played for the Sussex Sharks T20 Blast team since joining the club two years ago after winning the competition with Essex. Bopara has scored three half-centuries and a total of 228 runs this season to help his side reach the quarter-finals. "From now on, I will be focusing on T20 cricket," he told the club after agreeing an undisclosed-length deal. "I have loved playing red-ball cricket over the years and obviously have some incredible memories with Essex and England, but my aim now is to get the best out of myself in the T20 format and see where that can take me and the teams I play for. "Thanks to everyone at the club I feel very at home now. I am hopeful that this could be the start of a period of dominance for the Sharks in the T20 competition." Bopara has played 38 times for England as well as nearly 400 T20 matches globally, including in India, Pakistan and Australia. He has also recently played in The Hundred for London Spirit. "I have enormously enjoyed working with Ravi and getting to know him better," said Sussex Sharks head coach James Kirtley. "His input at all levels has been hugely appreciated and his positive influence over our squad is massively valued. I look forward to seeing more match-winning performances from Ravi this year and in future seasons."

Watch: Bopara cracked 144 runs off just 49 balls, including 12 sixes and 14 fours, as he wreaked havoc on the Middlesex 2’s bowlers. The middle-order batter came in with Sussex already having scored 67 runs off the first four-and-a-half overs of the match. He unfurled his onslaught in the eighth over of the match, hitting He reached his half-century with another six, this time off The premium over of Bopara’s innings, however, came when De Caires was brought back on to bowl the 15th over. By that point, Sussex had already reached 225-3. Bopara hit the first ball for four before smashing the following two for six, targeting the area down the ground. After a no-ball and four byes, Bopara hit all of the final three balls of the over for boundaries, sandwiching two sixes with a four. He reached his hundred in the following over and hit Bopara was finally out off the penultimate ball of the innings from Sussex will play Watch: Ravi Bopara smashes 38-run over in scintillating ton A huge score from our 2nd XI against Middlesex 2nd XI this afternoon! 🤯 Ravi Bopara top scored with 144 including 14 fours and 12 sixes as we hit 324-7 from our 20 overs. 🚀 Middlesex have just started their chase – head to the website for the live scorecard and clips. 🦈 — Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC)

• • • • Ravi Bopara says IPL franchises will offer long-term contracts to England players to play only for them Ravi Bopara says IPL franchises will offer long-term contracts to England players to play only for them I missed IPL contract by trying to be loyal to England’ Bopara cites his own example of how Tendulkar called him to play for Mumbai Indians but after discussions with Andy Flower, he denied in hope he would be picked for Test cricket, which didn’t materialise. The London Times reported a few days back how IPL franchises have proposed multi-million pound annual contracts to six prominent England cricketers, with a condition for them to retire from international cricket. The former England player Ravi Bopara reckons Jos Buttler and Sam Curran would be two of those players, and cites his own case to suggest the more players will take the IPL franchises’s contract, and choose club over country. “This was coming. This has been a chat in county circuit and around cricket in general. This was always going to be happening ,especially after IPL teams started acquiring teams world wide – in South African league and in the major league coming up in America. We have already seen them acquire teams in CPL , to recruit West Indian player coming through. That was the start,” Bopara said on BBC Test Match Special podcast. “I am not surprised at all by the development. I am sure Jos Butler, Sam Curran would be part of that discussion. Those two would definitely be part of discu...

Ravi Bopara rolled back the years Tuesday as the Englishman smashed 144 runs off just 49 balls in a T20 Blast warm-up fixture. He also scored 38 runs in an over during his super knock vs Middlesex 2nd XI. As a result, Sussex 2nd XI finished at 324-7, the highest-recorded total in professional T20 cricket. Interestingly, the highest total in T20 internationals is 278/3, which belongs to Afghanistan. Sussex will play their first game of the T20 Blast against Somerset at Hove on Friday.

Ravi Bopara, right, and his occasional Essex team-mate Alastair Cook during England's tour of Australia in 2013-14. Photograph: Mark Nolan/Getty Images Ravi Bopara, right, and his occasional Essex team-mate Alastair Cook during England's tour of Australia in 2013-14. Photograph: Mark Nolan/Getty Images Now 30, his international prospects appear bleak and, in all likelihood, his only action against the Australians this summer will be in another tour match for Bopara is one of the casualties of England’s failed World Cup campaign last winter, overlooked for younger blood during the remarkable recent one-day series against New Zealand that has given English cricket a much-needed adrenalin shot ahead of the Ashes. The resurrection of the team’s limited-overs fortunes in such a short space of time has been astonishing. Bopara, though, offers a fascinating insight as to why things have changed so quickly. “It was the sort of cricket we’d been talking about as players at the World Cup,” he said. “We were trying to push then but the guys who were running the whole show weren’t sure what sort of brand they wanted to play. Either the captain or the coach has to give you the freedom to go and do it and obviously that’s happened now.” Eoin Morgan remains as captain, the limited time he had to prepare for the World Cup following the sacking of Cook just weeks before the tournament buying him time. But Paul Farbrace, Moores’ assistant who remains as Bayliss’s No2 after their time togeth...