ENG VS WI TEST

Centurions salute Gooch

Essex duo Ravi Bopara and Alastair Cook both paid tribute to watching mentor Graham Gooch after they each scored centuries on the first day of the second Test against the West Indies.

Left-handed opener Cook (126 not out) and No 3 Bopara (108) shared a stand of 213 which was the backbone of England’s total of 302 for two at the Riverside here on Thursday.
Bopara’s innings meant he’d become only the fifth Englishman, and first since former Essex and England captain Gooch against India in 1990, to score hundreds in three successive Test innings.
‘I felt good from the minute I went in. I’m seeing it quite nicely,’ said Bopara, whose Test-best 143 at Lord’s last week sent England on their way to a 10-wicket win which put them 1-0 up in this two-match series.
‘Graham Gooch talks about when you are in good nick, make the most of it.’
Told he’d equalled one of Gooch’s landmarks, Bopara said: ‘I wouldn’t put my name in the same sentence as him, he’s done a lot for me, a lot for cricket.’
Bopara added he’d received a few words of advice from the maestro, a world-class opening batsman in his time, before play got underway.
‘He popped into the nets this morning and said ‘keep playing straight, no better place to hit the ball then down the ground, there’s no fielders there’.’
Bopara’s current purple patch is all the more impressive as early in his now six-match Test career he made three straight noughts away to Sri Lanka in December 2007.
‘Sri Lanka was probably the toughest point of my career,’ Bopara said.
‘I found ways to keep getting out but not once did I think I was never going to play Test cricket again, it drove me on to come back.’
And again a pep talk from Gooch gave Bopara a boost.
‘Graham said to me ‘I got a pair in my first Test (against Australia at Edgbaston in 1975)’ but you will come back from this. It was nice to hear that from such a legendary batsman.’
Cook too said Gooch had been a major influence.
‘Goochie’s been amazing for me and Ravi, the amount of hard work he’s put in. When I was 18 he would be throwing at me from 8.30 in the morning for an hour. With his record, for him to do that was something special.’
Cook was also especially pleased to share such a large stand with fellow 24-year-old Bopara. ‘It’s just a great day to bat with Rav.
‘We played Under-14 cricket together and now to be playing a Test match together and scoring hundreds, it’s put a smile on my face.’