Leicestershire v Essex Eagles
Friends Provident Trophy (Quarter-Final)
Wednesday 4 June 2008
Grace Road
On this day in 2008, a certain Ravi Bopara struck an awesome and flawless unbeaten 201 that carried his side into the last four of the Friends Provident Trophy, just one match away from another Lord’s Final. To put his effort into perspective, it was only the second time in the competition that a batsman had recorded a double-century against first-class opposition.
Bopara rewrote the Essex record books beating the previous one-day best achieved by Graham Gooch of 198 against Sussex in 1982. His innings spanned 138 deliveries, of which he despatched 28 to the boundary including 10 which cleared the boards in a display of startling power and aggression.
When learning that he had broken Gooch’s record, Bopara was genuinely upset and said: “Oh no, I haven’t have I? It’s not nice to beat his record because he is Mr Essex, a great man and legend and he’s done a lot for me. If it were not for him, I don’t think I’d be getting a double century.”
Essex reached a colossal 350-5 with James Foster contributing 61 in a fifth-wicket partnership of 190 in 28 overs with Bopara, as the Essex duo ran the bowlers and fielders ragged. Leicestershire were never in the hunt losing three wickets for 53 inside the first 10 overs, and they were finally dismissed for 232 to leave Essex winners by 118 runs.
Bopara said: “It was just one of those days when everything came off. I’ve got some really sweet bats at the moment because I seem to be hitting the ball a lot harder and further this year. Maybe it’s also something to do with the gym work I’ve been doing but whatever, I’m feeling good about my game. It was just a freakish day and I hope a lot more are around the corner.
“But the pitch seemed to play really well and when Fozzie (James Foster) came in, he played really well for his half-century and I said to him at one stage, “Look you and me have to bat through until 40 or 45 overs because if we do that, we are going to get a decent score,” and he batted really well. We got to around 45 overs and when he went to a good catch, I hung around re-assessing the situation for an over and then went for the slog and everything came off really nicely.”
Bopara reached his double-century with a six off the penultimate ball of the innings when he stepped back to launch a delivery from paceman Nadeem Malik over the ropes at deep extra cover.
“I didn’t even know I’d got to my double hundred. I hit a six over extra-cover and everyone was shouting and cheering and I looked around and thought, ‘Oh that’s good, we’ve got 350. That’s brilliant.’ Then I looked up at the scoreboard again and saw the figures 200 and realised what I’d achieved.
“It was nice to get a double-hundred, it’s a good feeling.”
