It's Good to See Ravi Bopara Back, But You Cannot Help But Feel Sorry For Young Jonny Bairstow

Johnny Bairstow: Not included in squad

When the England test squad to face South Africa was announced last night, it has to be said there was a certain feeling of mixed emotions.

A big Essex fan myself, I was understandably delighted to see Ravi Bopara earn a recall to the side, with it seeming likely that he will make his first appearance in the five day game for over a year.

But there was also a tinge of sadness. The decision to leave out the talented young Yorkshire wicket-keeper batsman, Jonny Bairstow.

On the face of it, you can see the reasoning. Bairstow was brought into the squad for the series against the West Indies earlier on this summer to much speculation and hype. In his three games, however, he returned a disappointing total of 38 runs.

When Geoffrey Boycott handed him his first cap it was one of those moments that raises the hairs on the back of your neck – for many a hardened cricket fan, it might well have brought a tear to their eye.

The relationship between the young pretender and the England batting legend is a unique one. For much of his childhood, Boycott was a mentor to Bairstow – the closest thing he really had to a father during his teenage years.

A former England cricketer himself, David Bairstow, Jonny's real father, would surely have been a proud man to see his son pull on the England whites, and for his best mate Geoffrey to hand him the sacred cap.

That was not to be however. Bairstow senior took his own life in January 1998.

Suffering from depression, a common condition after retirement from top level cricket, he had tried to end it all weeks before by taking an overdose.

It is a desperately sad story, made all the worse by the fact that, on this occasion, Jonny Bairstow could not quite hold down that place in the side.

Naturally, he will return to county cricket now, and being young, it seems almost certain that his chance will come again. It is now just a case of getting runs on the board, working hard and proving the doubters wrong.

On the other side of the coin, of course, it is a delight to see Ravi Bopara's first class career being given another chance – and I hope this time, he can take it.

Now aged 27, Bopara has only won 12 caps for the England test team, an extraordinarily low number for a player of his undoubted talent.

It was his scintillating form in the recent one-day series against Australia that convinced the selectors that he would be worth another shot.

Indeed, Bopara offers an insurance policy to the selectors too. Not only can he bat, but he is pretty handy with the ball – significant, considering England seem likely stuck with their policy of including only four out-and-out bowlers with Graham Onions likely to only be used as a sub.

It will not be easy for Bopara, though, South Africa are the number two ranked team in the world and will know they have a chance of dislodging England from the top of the pile with a series win.

With Dale Steyn in hot form and perched at the top of the ICC bowler rankings, he will be the one Bopara and his batting colleagues will have to stop – but then again, England were pretty successful at doing that when Mitchell Johnson landed on English soil in a similar situation in 2009.

The series gets under way on Thursday, with the Brit Oval hosting the first test, and it could prove to be the beginning of a big few weeks of international cricket, with seismic consequences.