Essex's Bopara in the frame to play first England Test match for nearly 12 months (From Gazette)

Essex's Bopara in the frame to play first England Test match for nearly 12 months

11:25am Sunday 15th July 2012 in Essex County Cricket Club news

RAVI Bopara is set to play in his first Test match for almost a year after being named in England's squad to face South Africa at The Oval next week.

Bopara is one of the six batsmen in a 13 announced this morning and also including Steven Finn and Graham Onions, who can therefore still hope to oust incumbent Tim Bresnan as the third seamer.

It was last August, at the same venue, that Bopara won his 12th Test cap - when Jonathan Trott was injured, for the innings victory over India which completed a 4-0 series whitewash.

Following Eoin Morgan's loss of form last winter, the Essex batsman seemed certain to return at the start of this summer - only to injure his thigh playing for his county the day before the squad was announced for the first Investec Test against the West Indies at Lord's.

Jonathan Bairstow was therefore chosen to make his debut. But the young Yorkshireman did not do enough in that 2-0 series win to retain his place for the first of three matches against South Africa, starting on Thursday and which will decide who tops the International Cricket Council rankings at the end of this summer.

National selector Geoff Miller noted 27-year-old Bopara's hard work to push himself back into the Test reckoning for such a high-profile match.