Cricket: Bopara planning England via Shield action

Auckland will be hoping to benefit from a sense of hurt felt by their English import Ravi Bopara this season.

When England regained the Ashes in mid-year, Bopara played the first four tests before being dropped for the last at The Oval, which England won to clinch the series.

And now he's in Auckland, when, hand on heart, he'd rather be in South Africa with the England squad. So the incentive is obvious.

"Not being in the one-day or test team [in South Africa] hurt me a little bit, but the main thing now is for me to be scoring runs," he said yesterday ahead of Auckland's second round Plunket Shield match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve.

Bopara figures if he's getting runs and England run into an injury problem he could make himself a contender for a rapid recall.

"So that's a strong incentive for me, scoring some runs," the 24-year-old Essex player said.

Bopara began solidly in the draw against Central Districts in Napier last week, with a half century in the first innings, but he's not a player with a strong focus on having goals for himself.

"I am more a match by match person. I'm not massive on setting goals because they can hold you back or put more pressure on yourself."

Bopara, who had hit three hundreds in successive tests against the West Indies shortly before losing his place against Australia, will be an important figure for Auckland this week, as they field a depleted side.

There are a stack of changes from last week, with experienced opener Richard Jones taking over the captaincy from regular skipper Gareth Hopkins, who is missing the game with the birth of his first child.

Bowlers Daryl Tuffey and Tarun Nethula, batsman-wicketkeeper Reece Young and opener Tim McIntosh are playing for the New Zealand Invitation XI against Pakistan in Queenstown, starting tomorrow, but the flipside is that international duo Martin Guptill and Scott Styris are back.

Former New Zealand under-19 wicketkeeper Jonothan Bassett-Graham gets a call-up, as does spinner Bhupinder Singh.

Wellington have lost batsman Grant Elliott and seamer Iain O'Brien to the Queenstown match, replaced by Stewart Rhodes and Illi Tugaga.

Northern Districts, after thumping Otago by 10 wickets in Dunedin last week, are without test batsman Daniel Flynn and seamer Brent Arnel, both playing in Queenstown, for their match against Central Districts in Whangarei. Allrounders Anurag Verma and Jono Boult take their places.

Brendon McCullum captains Otago against Canterbury at Rangiora, with skipper Craig Cumming also Queenstown-bound while other internationals, Aaron Redmond, Ian Butler and Nathan McCullum are resting injuries. Canterbury's new ball attack has a distinctly test look to it - Chris Martin and Shane Bond.

Points after one round: ND 8, CD and Canterbury 2, Auckland, Wellington, Otago 0.

PLUNKET SHIELD

Second round, all start 10.30am today

WELLINGTON V AUCKLAND (Basin Reserve)

Wellington: Matthew Bell (c), Josh Brodie, Neal Parlane, Cam Merchant, Stewart Rhodes, Chris Nevin, Luke Woodcock, Harry Boam, DeWayne Bowden, Robbie Schaw, Jeetan Patel, Andy McKay, Illi Tugaga (two to be omitted).

Auckland: Richard Jones (c), Martin Guptill, Ravi Bopara, Anaru Kitchen, Scott Styris, Andrew de Boorder, Jeet Raval, Jonathon Bassett-Graham, Bhupinder Singh, Lance Shaw, Michael Bates, Nick Turner (one to be omitted).

NORTHERN DISTRICTS V CENTRAL DISTRICTS (Cobham Oval, Whangarei)

ND: James Marshall (c), Brad Wilson, Michael Parlane, Anton Devcich, Kane Williamson, Peter McGlashan, Joey Yovich, Jono Boult, Anurag Verma, Trent Boult, Graeme Aldridge, Bradley Scott.

CD: Jamie How (c), Peter Ingram, George Worker, Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor, Brad Patton, Bevan Griggs, Ewen Thompson, Kieran Noema Barnett, Michael Mason, Doug Bracewell, Jeremy Kuru (one to be omitted).

CANTERBURY V OTAGO(Rangiora)

Canterbury (likely): Kruger van Wyk (c), Michael Papps, Rob Nicol, Peter Fulton, Todd Astle, Shanan Stewart, Corey Anderson, Andrew Ellis, Leighton Burtt, Shane Bond, Chris Martin.

Otago: Brendon McCullum (c), Leighton Morgan, Greg Todd, Neil Broom, Shaun Haig, Derek de Boorder, Anthony Bullick, Sam Wells, Neil Wagner, Mathew Harvie, Warren McSkimming, Nick Beard (one to be omitted).