Cricket: Auckland to add Bopara for season's challenges

Auckland have signed an international batsman on a mission for the bulk of the coming domestic season.

England player Ravi Bopara will arrive this week primarily as Auckland's overseas player for the HRV Cup, New Zealand's domestic Twenty20 competition.

However Auckland should get good value from the 24-year-old Essex player, who is due to arrive in time for the opening round of the four-day championship, when Auckland play Central Districts in Napier, starting next Tuesday.

Bopara will be available for the first four rounds of the championship, the first four rounds of the one-day competition, running from December 8-31, and the Twenty20 tournament, from January 2-31.

"We had only been looking for someone for the Twenty20 but he's very keen to come out for a longer period," Auckland chief executive Andrew Eade said last night. "It works out very nicely for us."

Bopara, who was in New Zealand with the England squad early last year, appeared set for a long tenure in the England squad after hitting centuries in three successive test appearances against the West Indies this year.

However he lost his way during the Ashes series in mid-year, was dropped for the fifth and final test, and has been omitted from England's test and one-day squads to tour South Africa shortly.

Eade said Bopara had a point to prove after being overlooked by England and wanted to start making it in New Zealand. Eade liked the fact it was Bopara who initiated the idea of coming out as soon as possible.

"He is keen to come and contribute over a longer period for us, which is great," Eade said. "He has exactly the right skill set we want, a hard-hitting batsman with a bit of bowling to back that up. For the HRV Cup he should add some real value."

Bopara will be available for the first four rounds of the championship, the first four rounds of the one-day competition, running from December 8-31, and the Twenty20 tournament, from January 2-31.

He has played 10 tests, averaging 33.46, and 50 ODIs, including England's most recent against New Zealand, at the Champions Trophy in September, when he battled gamely to 30 on an awful pitch at Johannesburg, when New Zealand won by four wickets.

Bopara, who averages 43.43 in 89 first-class games for Essex, while taking 90 wickets, has played eight Twenty20 internationals, averaging 22.71. Other players signed for the domestic Twenty20 competition are Englishman Graham Napier (Central Districts), Sri Lankan batting star Tillekaratne Dilshan (Northern Districts), England allrounder Dmitri Mascarenhas (Otago) and England batsman Owais Shah (Wellington).

Canterbury are ineligible to sign an overseas player as they already have two South African players, captain Kruger van Wyk and batsman Johan Myburgh.