Ravi Bopara is determined to return to the England Test side and has made a £100,000 statement of intent to the selectors.
That is the value of the two-month Indian Premier League contract from Rajasthan Royals that Bopara declined last month.
The franchise led by Shane Warne were seeking to replace Paul Collingwood, whose knee surgery after the World Cup ruled him out of the Twenty20 competition.
Bopara still hopes to replace Collingwood, but in England’s Test team after the Durham batsman announced his retirement from the longest form of the game in early January.
“It was a tough decision, but my ambition as a youngster has always been to play Test cricket and to play for my country,” said Bopara, whose most recent of 10 Tests was against Australia at Headingley Carnegie in 2009.
“Not everything’s about money. I’ve got to make sure I fulfil my ambitions and my talent as a cricketer. Although Twenty20 is a very important part of the game, Test cricket is always going to be the pinnacle.
“There’s a Test place available and someone’s got to take it and I realise this is the time to knuckle down and get some runs for Essex and take some wickets and take that Test spot.”
Bopara is immediately available to his county, who begin their quest to make amends for last season’s LV= County Championship relegation at home to Kent today, having declined the opportunity of further rest after two months away from home - initially with England Lions in the Caribbean and then with England at the World Cup.
Indeed, the 25-year-old appeared in Essex’s draw with Cambridge UCCE at Fenner’s, which started a week after he played in England’s quarter-final defeat to Sri Lanka in Colombo.
“I was given the option to have a week or so off, but I don’t think I need a week off,” added Bopara, who insisted he is untroubled by a side strain the England medical staff were monitoring.
“There was plenty of time in between games at the World Cup, almost a week, so you’ve got plenty of time to recover. No, I’m fine. My body’s good, my head’s good, so I’m fine.”
Bopara has a month and a half - the period of the IPL round-robin phase - to make a case for his inclusion in England’s next Test, against Sri Lanka starting on May 26.
After England's World Cup exit to Sri Lanka, Bopara said: “I was given the option to have a week or so off, but I don’t think I need a week off.” During that time Essex are set to play six championship and four Clydesdale Bank 40 matches, 10 games Bopara hopes to make the most of.
“Sri Lanka are coming over in a month or so and it’s very, very important I go out and score runs for Essex and for myself really and get back in that side,” he said.
Even if he does make hay over the next six weeks, Bopara realises there are many contenders for Collingwood’s place in the Test middle order and denied a two-way contest with his good friend Eoin Morgan.
Morgan would appear to be next in line, having been England’s spare batsman during the Ashes, but Bopara is aware the likes of James Hildreth and James Taylor excelled on the Lions tour.
“I don’t see it as a straight fight between us two,” he responded to the notion of Bopara versus Morgan. “There are loads of players in the country who are pushing for that spot.”
If the selectors want a like-for-like replacement for Collingwood, whose seam bowling often complemented a four-man attack, Bopara knows he could be their man.
Although his medium pace has had relatively little exposure at international level, Bopara - who took two World Cup wickets versus West Indies - is confident it could tip the balance in his favour.
“It’s been going well. That helps. It’s obviously going to help my contribution to the team and obviously getting selected,” he said.
Bopara, who signed a new two-year contract with Essex in December and yesterday was appointed vice-captain to James Foster, is keen to make an early-season statement with the ball, just as with the bat.
“If I don’t get injured, my bowling will play a massive part for Essex so I’ve got to make sure I’m hitting my straps early doors,” he added at the county’s pre-season press day in Chelmsford.
“I’ve been disappointed in the past for my bowling not to be considered [for England], but hopefully I’ve done enough this winter for people to take notice and say ‘he can do a job with the ball’ because that’s going to play a massive part for England and myself really to be in the England side.
Bopara, who picked up two World Cup wickets, said: "Hopefully I’ve done enough this winter for people to take notice and say ‘he can do a job with the ball'." Buy this photo
“Lets just see what happens over the next few months and hopefully I’ll stay injury-free, which is the most important thing for me, and play a massive part with the ball and bat.
Another area Bopara has sought to improve is his punctuality, which has been a problem in the past. He stressed, though, that this issue is separate to his game.
“It is something I’ve taken on board although I have been late over the last couple of months,” he admitted before pointing out: “Not today, I wasn’t late today.
“I think it’s just one of those things; I tend to be dopey sometimes and I miss things and I forget things. That’s just part of who I am, but I am looking to improve it.
“When it comes to cricket, I get my head screwed on. But when it’s things off the field like doing this and making it here and going there then I’m nowhere.”
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