Bopara feeling the pressure

Ravi Bopara has admitted that he is fighting to save his Test place after his poor form continued with a miserable match at Headingley. He bagged scores of 1 and 0 in the fourth Test and his series tally is a meagre 105 at an average of 15 as he struggles to adapt to the No. 3 berth.

"There is no disguising the pressure I am under," he wrote in the Mail on Sunday. "There is nowhere to hide because, in such a massively high-profile series as this and against opponents of the quality of Australia, you have to front up every single day."

Bopara made a promising start to his time at first drop with consecutive centuries against West Indies earlier in the summer, but combating the likes of Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson has proved a far harder task. The Australians have probed his weakness outside off stump where his technique is loose and, as Justin Langer wrote in his hard-hitting dossier about the England players, have prayed on Bopara's ego.

However, Bopara is determined to remain positive despite his difficulties having experienced a similar situation in Sri Lanka during his debut series when he collected three ducks on the bounce.

"It is up to me. No one else can do the batting for me," he said. "Just as important for me now is my thinking and my approach. When you are searching for a bit of form, the main danger for a player like me, who likes to go for his shots, is that I might start slipping into survival mode.

"I've been guilty of doing that in the past, both in county cricket and when I had that terrible time on my first England tour in Sri Lanka, and it just doesn't work. If I am given the opportunity at The Oval to respond to my scores of one and a first-ball duck here at Leeds, whatever else I do to break out of this trot, I must remain positive and look to score at every opportunity."

To compound Bopara's misery replays showed he got an inside edge when given out first ball against Hilfenhaus on the second day at Headingley, but he refused to make any excuses. "I wouldn't say I've been blessed with good fortune over a couple of umpiring decisions, but I've no complaints. Stuff happens when things aren't going your way. I have to admit I'm finding it pretty difficult to see the positives at the moment. But I'll try to keep smiling and keep enjoying my first taste of the Ashes."