Ravi Bopara has played so much T20 cricket that he featured in the second match the format ever staged. On another damp South London evening, 22 years on, the 40-year-old showed why he is still paid to bat. His unbeaten 105 from 46 balls steered Northamptonshire past a fancied Surrey and into Vitality Blast Finals Day.
The quarter-final had already been trimmed to 14 overs a side after steady rain at the Kia Oval. Asked to bat, Northants were swiftly 1 for 2: Ricardo Vasconcelos nicked Jordan Clark’s first ball, and David Willey fell to the sixth. Most sides would have consolidated. Bopara did the opposite.
“We knew there was going to be a bit of rain about, and we knew that this pitch might nibble at the start, but our philosophy was ‘just keep going’ and it will come off. And today it did,” he told Sky Sports while collecting the match award.
Twelve fours and five sixes later, Northants had 163 for 5 – a target Surrey never quite matched despite Sam Curran’s 69 not out from 38 deliveries. They finished 15 short. Length bowling, Bopara felt, was decisive. “The chat was just to hold length. Length was the hardest ball to hit because it just nipped a little bit, and didn’t come off the surface at the same pace,” he said. “We faltered from our plan a little bit in the middle, which brought them back into the game, but then went back to it towards the death.”
Curran threatened to undo the approach, striking three consecutive sixes off Freddie Heldreich, yet Northants’ seamers regained control. Willey delivered the penultimate over for seven, leaving 22 off the last; Tom Taylor closed it out. Afterwards Willey tipped his hat to the veteran who had earlier been dismissed for nought. “We got him for his experience, and that’s exactly what we got … big game, and he stood up,” he said. “He’s had a few murmurs of hanging the boots up, but hopefully we can prise him out for one more year, when he can play like that. It was just exceptional power.”
Surrey, top of the South Group with eight wins from 11, never quite found rhythm with the ball once the early moisture disappeared. Clark and Gus Atkinson both missed death-over yorkers, and Bopara made them pay, backing away to shovel length through mid-wicket or opening the face to guide behind square. His strike-rate – 228 on a tacky pitch – underlined the gap between the sides.
The innings also revived conversation about Bopara’s longevity. “I didn’t have that fire in my belly today, and that’s when I prefer it, when I feel a bit dead. That’s when I feel like I’m going to perform my best,” he admitted. “It doesn’t always work, but [when it does] it’s good.”
Northants will appear at Edgbaston for the first time since their 2016 title. They last lifted the trophy under Alex Wakely; seven years later they lean on Bopara, plus the left-arm swing of Willey, to navigate the big moments. Head coach John Sadler praised the pair’s calmness, noting that Bopara had talked younger batters through their options during the rain break.
Surrey head coach Gareth Batty was philosophical. The match position at 1 for 2 had looked ideal, yet short formats punish the slightest slip. “You lose one bowler’s over, that can be the game,” he said, echoing the numbers: Atkinson leaked 23 from the 12th. Batty refused to blame the weather or the schedule. “We were beaten by a better plan tonight.”
From here, Northamptonshire’s task is to bottle the energy for Finals Day, traditionally a test of squad depth and adaptability. They are not short of belief. Bopara already owns a Blast medal with Essex (2019); Willey has one with Yorkshire (2012). Young leg-spinner Heldreich, who struggled against Curran, will have learnt plenty. And if conditions at Edgbaston mirror those at the Oval, the length mantra may return.
For Surrey the disappointment is real but hardly terminal. Many of their side will shift focus to The Hundred or England duty. Curran, back as captain after national commitments, looked every inch the international all-rounder; Dan Lawrence’s crisp 24 hinted at form; Clark’s two-wicket burst keeps him on selectors’ radars.
Yet this evening belonged to Bopara. After nearly 500 T20 matches, his awareness of when to attack and when to wait remains acute. Northants hope he can summon it twice more in Birmingham. Given what he produced when he felt “a bit dead”, few would bet against it.
