BRIDGETOWN, Feb 28 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - England all-rounder Ravi Bopara experienced the roughness and sweetness of test cricket as he made his maiden test century in the fourth test on Friday.
Drafted in as replacement for the injured Andrew Flintoff, Bopara survived a dropped catch, a ball in the face and a Barbadian barrage of pace bowling before a beautifully crafted innings dispelled doubts over his international credentials.
West Indies clearly felt Bopara, whose three previous tests back in December 2007 ended with three successive ducks, could be a soft touch but the Essex all-rounder gritted his teeth and took the game to the hosts with some style.
"It's only my fourth Test and first against West Indies. I felt as if they were going to come at me hard, they were chirping and all sorts of things but that's part of test cricket and its good fun. I really enjoyed it," he said.
What was less enjoyable was the crack in the visor as he tried to hook Fidel Edwards, after earlier hooking the pace bowler to Jerome Taylor who dropped the catch.
Bopara needed ice-pack treatment and wore sunglasses after the game to cover up bruising under his right eye.
"I felt as though I was a little early on it and it arrived afterwards and went straight into the grill, jarring it into the cheek," he said.
"I wouldn't say it affected me, I think it's one of those things you accept as a batter. You are going to get hit now and then especially in test cricket when you have someone bowling around 90mph," he said.
BOPARA'S CHANCE
What followed was an innings of character that would have earned the approval of Flintoff on the day England's main all-rounder went home for treatment on his hip muscle injury.
Had it not been for Flintoff's injury, Bopara would still be in New Zealand on a low key tour with England's second string and even after making a 40-hour trip to get to the Caribbean, Bopara did not expect to feature in the fourth test.
"I didn't expect to play, I just came here thinking I'd be the spare batter and I never thought I'd get in. Obviously, when I was told I was playing I was delighted and felt this was my chance.
"It was definitely satisfying, I think any test century would be and I'm glad to have got there today," he added, having eventually fallen for 104 off the bowling of Edwards..
The miserable 42 runs Bopara picked up on the tour of Sri Lanka 14 months ago clearly raised questions about whether he had the qualities to cope with test cricket but he said he had taken a measured approach to restoring his reputation.
"I've tried to be patient first of all and not think about how I wanted to get back to prove everyone wrong," he said.
"I told myself be patient, earn your chance by scoring runs for Essex and when you get it take it but don't worry about it too much and build it up too much before you get there."
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