Bopara cleared of side injury

Ravi Bopara has received positive news after a scan on his side showed no sign of an injury and he has been cleared to bowl in Essex's match against Cambridge University at Fenner's on Saturday.

Bopara, who has turned down a £100,000 IPL contract in order to focus on regaining a spot in the England Test team, returned from the World Cup with some discomfort in his side but will now line up alongside Alastair Cook as Essex continue their preparations for the Championship season.

"Ravi had a scan on his side strain but there was nothing shown on that so he'll be able to bowl short spells if we need him to, so that's very promising," Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, said.

His decision to decline an IPL deal shows his desire to get back into the Test reckoning against Sri Lanka with a vacancy to be filled in the middle order following Paul Collingwood's retirement. Eoin Morgan is generally regarded as the favourite for the position having been the spare batsman in Australia, but he will spend the next five weeks at the IPL so a strong start from Bopara in the Championship will keep the selectors interested.

Bopara also comes with the advantage of being able to offer some useful overs which would replace the part-time medium pace of Collingwood and supplement a likely four-man attack from England. He has played 10 Tests for England and scored three hundred in consecutive innings against West Indies in 2009, but then struggled in the Ashes series batting at No. 3 and was dropped for the final match at The Oval.