'England ODI team is not far from being one of our worst': Ravi Bopara

Ravi Bopara. PIC/G KRISHNAN

Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara has said that the England cricket team "is not far off being one of the worst one-day teams for a very, very, very long time". Bopara spoke exclusively to mid-day between England's two defeats in the ICC Champions Trophy - first to Australia and then Afghanistan. The narrow loss to Afghanistan on Wednesday confirmed England's elimination from the semi-final race.

"It's a tough situation for them [England] right now. They are short on wicket-taking bowlers in good conditions for batting. They're finding it hard to take wickets. Without Adil Rashid, there's not many nations they can beat. He plays a pivotal role in the middle there. He takes wickets, he contains. Without him, you could be looking at massive scores from the opposition," said Bopara, 39, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on the sidelines of the International Masters League where he is a commentator. Afghanistan posted a massive 325-7 on Wednesday and beat England by eight runs.

"I think the last time an English seamer had a good slow ball that can deceive a batsman, like Jasprit Bumrah and a lot of the Indian bowlers have, was Harry Gurney. You need those options when you're playing on very good wickets. You need change-ups that can deceive the batsman," added Bopara.

Gurney played 10 ODIs and two T20Is for England, all in 2014. Bopara added that India have been handed a massive advantage, playing at one venue throughout the tournament. "This makes India favourites to win the Champions Trophy. But unfortunately, there's not much anybody can do about it. Unless, India played their matches in India, where the conditions are similar to Pakistan, probably more even contests," said Bopara, who did not live up to his full potential for England.

In 13-Tests and 120 ODIs from 2007 to 2015, he accumulated only 575 (three centuries) and 2,695 runs (one century) respectively, and a combined tally of 41 wickets including one Test scalp. He featured in two Tests against India in 2011, a series in which Andrew Strauss's England blanked MS Dhoni's men 4-0.