Bopara and Foster punish Warwickshire
Ravi Bopara and James Foster both collected long-awaited centuries in a sixth-wicket stand of 229 as Essex kept Warwickshire in the field for more than five sessions at a sweltering Chelmsford.
The pair’s partnership – a record for an Essex sixth wicket against Warwickshire, beating the 140 by Keith Fletcher and Allan Border at Edgbaston in 1988 – lasted 66 overs and enabled the Division One leaders to declare five overs after tea.
By the close, Warwickshire were still 332 short of their follow-on target as they attempt to avoid a fourth innings defeat in seven Specsavers County Championship matches.
Bopara had gone nearly three years without a championship hundred. By the time he was out just after tea, having batted for eight hours, he was within eight runs of a double century.
Foster leapt in the air and pumped his fist three times in the direction of the home changing room after posting his first threefigure total for nearly 13 months.
Bopara’s previous century had been completed on July 1, 2014, against Gloucestershire, also at Chelmsford, and he had three times been out in the nineties, twice for 99, in the past 12 months alone.
The 32-year-old clipped Jeetan Patel past point for the single just before noon that took him to his 27th first-class century. When he eventually went to a tired-looking heave against Patel, playing all around it, he had hit 16 fours and three sixes in his 379-ball innings.
Foster, meanwhile, had not claimed a century since his 113 against Northamptonshire last May, but outscored Bopara for much of their time together. He brushed off a nasty blow to the side of his helmet from a Boyd Rankin bouncer by hooking Rikki Clarke for the four that took him to a 159-ball century. When he was caught at wide mid-on by a tumbling Keith Barker for 121, he had faced 182 balls and hit 16 fours and a towering six.
After Foster’s departure, Warwickshire claimed three wickets for 32 as the Essex tail joined Bopara in adding quick runs towards the declaration.
Sunny Singh raced in from the long-on boundary to dismiss Paul Walter for a bright 16 before trapping Simon Harmer lbw. Patel bowled Bopara to help him finish with season’s best figures of four for 138 after a marathon 45-over spell. Neil Wagner’s 25-ball cameo at the end left him 24 not out.
Bopara’s fine match continued when his underarm throw accounted for opener Andrew Umeed to make the first dent in Warwickshire’s response. Five overs, and three runs later, Alastair Cook snapped up Ian Westwood low down at slip to give Harmer his 20th championship wicket.