Aged 17, Bopara earned a professional contract with Essex in 2002, and immediately established himself as a name for the future. He made his first-team debut the same year, playing three Championship matches before playing for England at the Under-19 World Cup in 2003. A top-order batsman, he can also chip in with some handy medium-pace bowling and he has been maturing with every match.

Bopara, who is nicknamed Puppy, was a late selection for the England A squad in West Indies in 2006, after injuries in England's senior squad left spots to fill. Although unsuccessful in the Caribbean he found form on the county scene and was subsequently rewarded with a place in England's preliminary squad for the 2006 Champions Trophy and the Academy squad to be based in Perth during the winter's Ashes series.

After impressing the selectors, he made his ODI debut against Australia at Sydney, and claimed the wicket of Mike Hussey to help England kick-start their trophy-winning campaign with a 92-run win. A fortnight later in the World Cup, he showed impressive resolve and class in his maiden one-day fifty against Sri Lanka, albeit in a losing cause. He was one of only a handful of England players to emerge from that tournament with their reputation enhanced, but injury prevented him from building on his success in the World Twenty20.

Another encouraging display for England in their one-day series against Sri Lanka in October 2007 led to his call-up to the Test squad for December's series, and he was picked to make his Test debut in the opening match at Kandy ahead of Owais Shah. It was, on reflection, a tour too soon for Bopara who scratched 42 runs in three Tests, including three ducks in a row, and was axed the following January.

But 14 months later, after flitting around the fringes of the ODI team, he seized his opportunity when Andrew Flintoff flew home from the Caribbean with a hip injury. Picked at No. 6 for the Barbados Test, he responded with a classy 104. Though omitted from the subsequent Test in Trinidad to accommodate an extra bowler, England didn't forget his abilities. Two months later in the return series in England, he was recalled at No. 3 and responded with hundreds in each of his next two innings, at Lord's and Chester-le-Street, to emulate the achievement of his mentor, Graham Gooch, in 1990.

A decent showing in the subsequent World Twenty20 confirmed Bopara's place for the Ashes series that got underway in July, but not everyone was impressed with his cock-of-the-walk attitude. Shane Warne, in his guise as a pundit, cast doubts about his temperament, and sure enough they were exposed as he mustered 105 runs in seven innings, before being dropped for the series decider at The Oval, where JonathanTrott exceeded that tally in a single innings. He was subsequently dropped for England's winter tour to South Africa.
Andrew Miller October 2009