Why Bopara will be kicking himself and why Harmy has a right to feel aggrieved.
Steven Harmison and Ravi Bopara have been left out of the England squad to tour South Africa. Have the selector’s got it right? Half right in my book. The squads are below courtesy of Cricinfo.
Test squad Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, Steven Davies, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright
One-day squad Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Joe Denly, Sajid Mahmood, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright
By half right I mean I agree with Ravi Bopara being left out. Let’s be honest, this season both domestically and internationally Bopara has been a walking disaster. He isn’t too good at running either but anyway with Ashes test scores of of 35, 1, 18, 27, 23, 1 and a big fat 0, and ODI scores of 0, 29, 47, 10, 26, 18, 24, 13, 1 and 30 he could hardly say he had even a poor season. It was horrific so I can understand why the selectors have left Bopara out.
Steve Harmison on the other hand has a right to feel aggrieved. Domestically he has been one of the best bowlers in the County Championship, taking 51 wickets at an average of 22.62 and was undoubtedly a contributory factor in helping Durham win the LVCC. In the Ashes he took 2-98 and 3-54 in the 3 tests he played. He is a bowler that will take wickets if you give him the ball. His test average is 31.82 for god’s sake! Will Liam Plunkett scare the opponents as much as Harmy would? Will he take as many wickets as Harmy would? I doubt it. Plunkett has not been as successful domestically as the man he has replaced has and has never bowled as well in tests as Harmison either.
It is a risk the ECB are taking and I doubt it will pay off, but this could well spell the end of Harmison’s career as he is only 16 days away from his 31st birthday. Poor Steve.
