Bopara brushes aside Warne comments

England batsman Ravi Bopara has said he has earned his place in the Test team with a series of consistent performances over the last few months, dismissing Shane Warne's recent comments about his worth to the side. Warne, the former Australia legspinner, recently said Bopara was "not an international cricketer" and was "someone who's too worried about how he looks".

Warne added that an over-reliance on Bopara would harm England's chances during the Ashes but Bopara insisted that he had bagged his No. 3 spot on merit.

"Over the last couple of months I've earned my place on the team," Bopara said at a promotional event in London. "I've always wanted to bat in the top order for my country. To do it against the best in the world will be a great challenge for me."

Bopara had a terrible start to his Test career with three successive ducks after his debut in Kandy against Sri Lanka in 2007-08. He responded with three consecutive centuries - only the fifth English player to do so - when he was recalled midway through the West Indies tour earlier this year. In between, he scored an IPL contract and performed creditably during his short stint with Kings XI Punjab.

"I work very hard on the player I want to be [but] I didn't think too much about what happened in Sri Lanka. I didn't change a lot," he said. "I just try to enjoy it. You can put pressure on yourself and make too much fuss about it. I think it's important you go out and enjoy yourself. When you're a kid you don't worry about anything."