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Part of England’s maiden T20 World Cup-winning squad, 40-year-old Ravi Bopara has still got what it takes to excel in the T20 Blast. On September 3, in the quarterfinal clash against Sam Curran's Surrey, Bopara smashed an unbeaten 46-ball 105. In the rain-curtained 14 overs per side game, Bopara was in a league of his own as he lit up the Kennington Oval with his fireworks, helping Northamptonshire post a big total and win by seven runs.
Bopara walked in to bat in the first over. Jordan Clark struck twice with the new ball, dismissing Ricardo Vasconcelos and skipper David Willey. At first Tim Robinson took charge. Bopara smashed the first six of his innings in the fourth over. After Robinson's wicket, he went after the likes of Gus Atkinson and Sam. He took 24 balls to reach his fifty. The veteran batter reached his century in the last over of the innings, from 44 deliveries. His 46-ball 105 was studded with 12 fours and five sixes. Northamptonshire posted 154/4 on the board.
In the run chase, Surrey lost early wickets as well. Willey got rid of Ryan Patel whereas Ben Sanderson got the wicket of Jason Roy. Ollie Pope and Sam took charge of the run chase. They shared a 74-run partnership for the third wicket. George Scrimshaw got the breakthrough with Pope's wicket for a 23-ball 41. Scrimshaw dismissed Dan Lawrence and Laurie Evans as well. Sam lacked support from the other end and remained unbeaten for a 38-ball 69 in the unsuccessful run chase. Surrey managed to post 147/6 and lost the game by seven runs.
"It was an amazing win," Bopara told Sky Sports as he accepted his player-of-the-match award. "We knew there was going to be a bit of rain about, and we knew that this pitch might nibble at the start, but our philosophy was 'just keep going' and it will come off. And today it did.
"We're always going to stick with it. Because if someone has a day out, you end up posting a score like that. If someone gets a quick 80 or 100, you're away."
Bopara rises
This was Bopara’s third century of his T20 career. After the game, he admitted that he did not have fire in his belly going into the game but somehow it got the best out of him.
"I don't know if I'm getting better, but I was thinking about it all night," he said. "I didn't have that fire in my belly today, and that's when I prefer it, when I feel a bit dead. That's when I feel like I'm going to perform my best. It doesn't always work, but [when it does] it's good."
Bopara gets a long break before semifinal
Bopara will be seen in action in the semifinal on September 13. The 40-year-old is seventh on the list of leading run-scorer in the ongoing season. From 15 games, he has 453 runs at an average of 45.30 and strike rate of 146.13.
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