GREAT START

Ravi Bopara has had a good start in the ongoing county Championship. Playing for Essex in their opening match against Gloucestershire, Bopara scored a half century.

That match was played at County Ground, Chelmsford. The pitch over there was really flat and as a result, the match ended in a boring draw. The snow fall was also a big reason why the match ended without a clear result.

Batting first, Gloucestershire put up a huge total of 409 on the board. Their new skipper Michael Klinger got out without contributing much, but, a couple of guys in the middle order scored big hundreds.

Dan Housego scored 150, while, Hamish Marshall scored 149. Bopara had a good time with the ball too. He was the most successful bowler for Essex. He bowled 16 overs and went for just more than 3 per over. He dismissed two key Gloucester batsmen i.e. Housego and Alex Gidman.

While batting, Bopara’s turn came quite early. Essex was two down on just 23 and Bopara was out there in just the 7th over.

Bopara saw off the second day safely along with Tom Westley. At the end of the second day, the score of Essex was 30 for 2 and Bopara was not out on 3.

On the 4th day, only 44 overs of play was possible because of the snowfall, but, Bopara showed his class in that brief period and played a lot of fluent shots. He put up a 100-run stand with Westley for the 3rd wicket.

Bopara was adjudged leg before wicket off the bowling of Benny Howell at the score of 64. He faced 115 deliveries and scored 7 fours.

Westley went on to score 163, while, the wicketkeeper of Essex, James Foster, also scored 51.

The Gloucestershire bowlers didn’t manage to bowl out the whole Essex team. The score of Essex was 353 for 6 on the fourth day when the players of both the teams shook hands.