Ravi Bopara: 'It's weird how your mate misses out and you get a World Cup chance'

Q. When did you find out you might be called into England's World Cup squad? Did you have any inkling?

"I didn't even know Morgs (Eoin Morgan) had been injured until Saturday morning in St Kitts, when Dave Parsons, the Academy Director, called me into the physio's room for a chat and told me there was a chance I might be going to the World Cup. I'd already batted in the match on Friday and got out for 40-odd strangled down the legside, but at that stage I literally had no idea something might be up. It was a big surprise when he told me. They weren't 100 per cent certain because they were still waiting for the outcome of tests to see if Morgs needed an op but they did tell me it was a big chance. Then Guy Jackson the Lions manager rang me on Monday night and told me I was definitely going."

Q. How do you cope with news like that? What are the emotions like?

"You try to take it in your stride. I think those kind of emotions come into it when you are first picked for England. Now it's like 'right, I've got another opportunity here,' and then you start to think about how you are going to perform. I'm disappointed for Morgs. He's a good mate of mine and you don't like to see that happen to your mates. It's weird how your mate misses out and you get a chance - sport's like that. But for me it's a chance to get cracking again and I've got to focus on that."

Q. This winter you were left out of the Ashes squad, left out of the one-dayers afterwards, then left out of the World Cup squad. Three heavy disappointments. Has it been hard to keep motivated?

"I've had a lot of down moments this winter, not seeing my name in any of the squads but that has just made me more determined. When you are first left out you think you can't be any more determined to win your place back. But every time it happens it makes you even more. Then when you get left out again, you think 'there's no way I can be more determined than this. This is it. I'm going for it here.' And you do all in your power to stay in. Then you don't get picked for something else and you step it up again. You just keep going and keep pushing yourself to do a little bit more. You might think there's no more to give but there always is a little more inside you. Each blow, each time you don't get selected makes you more determined. County cricket is very challenging but I want to play at the highest level."

Q. Has there been a moment when thought you might not get another chance?

"At no stage did I think 'I'm not going to get a chance again.' I knew I was going to get my chance, it was a question of when it would happen or when I would create it. This is a difficult side to get into now, the way the team has performed all year in all forms of the game. So it's a matter of being ready when the opportunity arises."

Q. Does it help that you've played in India with IPL

"It might help, I'm not sure, but playing a lot of cricket over the winter would have helped me most. I played a lot of one-day cricket in South Africa and then with the Lions, although I didn't get much cricket with the Lions, just a couple of weeks. But the stint in South Africa would have helped me massively. They (the selectors) know I'm match-ready. It's very difficult if you haven't played cricket for a few months to just come in and start performing straight away.

Q. Your second World Cup and two T20 World Cups, plus Ashes winner but still not established?

I haven't achieved what I should have by this stage of my career, but it's never too late. I'm still only 25 and there's a long way to go and now would be a great time to establish myself.

Q. Why haven't you established yourself?

"I haven't played regularly enough, because when you are given regular chances you do get used to it. But if you are in and out you feel under extra pressure and think to yourself ‘I've got to perform, I've got to perform'. Sometimes I haven't played badly to be dropped, maybe someone who was injured was coming back into the side and I had to go. Then you're put to the side again and need to perform again to get back. That doesn't help. But I just have to look forward now to the opportunities I have coming up like the World Cup. With Colly retiring (in Tests) that gives an opportunity not just to myself but to that middle-order for someone to grab that spot and I would love to do that.

Q. Do you accept you need to do more?

"Yes but when you're batting at 5, 6 or anywhere below that you are never going to score hundreds. Hopefully if I can get a longer stint at the top of the order I can perform and score hundreds. It would then be up to me to score big runs. Ideally I would like to bat at the top of the order as anyone would in the world who regards themselves as a top-order batsman - that's where the bulk of the runs are scored and I want to be a part of that. I don't want to come in at 6 or 7 for a quick slog. I regard myself as a proper batsman.

Q. Last World Cup, you nearly won that game against Sri Lanka, do you look back and think things could have been different?

"Yeah if we had finished that game off we might have won the World Cup, who knows. It wasn't meant to be on the day, we did well to get back into it but we didn't play well enough on the day to win. They deserved to win. It was all a new experience for me as I was new to the team and had no idea about international cricket. I was very naïve.

Q. England's chances in this World Cup?

"We definitely have the players to win it. We have the batsmen to score the runs and bowlers who can take wickets with pace, bounce, swing. Over the last couple of years our guys have become very clever with their bowling which showed at the T20 world cup. Hopefully we can take advantage of what we did in the T20 and take that confidence into this one.

Q. When dropped in the past have you had any discussions with Strauss, Flower about what is expected of you? What you need to do to get back in and stay in?

Yes we have spoken but it all comes down to weight of runs. You can talk about this and that but the only thing that will get you into any side is weight of runs as a batsman.

Q. Your laid-back attitude. Has it counted against you?

"Possibly. I am laidback in most situations - I don't worry about little things in life and it may have counted against me. But I have done a lot over the last year to correct that and change the way I am. I have just become more organised in life, getting things into order, my time-keeping and that sort of stuff. It is not necessarily what I do on the training ground...I have always worked my bollocks off on the training ground, it is just outside where I was a little bit unorganised. I was the sort of guy who takes every game as it comes, I won't make a plan, I get things done at the last minute but I have done things to change that and hopefully that will help me all round.

Q. Examples?

"A good example is me being late for meetings or forgetting things...forgetting my passport. I have rocked up when we are leaving to go somewhere and I have not had my passport. Those sort of things have counted against me. I have done things to make myself a little bit more organised. I have put reminders on my phone. I write things down now to make sure I remember them. That passport stays in my jean pocket (now) it is like my wallet.

Q. When did you forget your passport?

"I can't remember which one it was - I do remember forgetting it for the under-19s. I forgot it on a senior tour but I can't recall which one it was. I was confused about where we going. It was not the last World Cup.

Q. Have you talked to Graham Gooch?

"I talked to him about it (absent-mindedness) and he said 'find out a way for yourself'. Goochy is more about cricket than that side of things. He said get a bit more organised because you don't want to miss out on opportunities in international cricket just because of little things like that.

Q. Ambitions?

"I would like to get the opportunity to play in India and after getting that opportunity... keep my spot in the side. Perform to a level where they can't leave me out and they want me in the side. That will be my goal, to stay in that side and from there push into the Test side. My bowling is going to be very important, not just in one-day cricket but hopefully to do some overs in Test cricket to give the main guys a bit of a rest - I might get a wicket. I am working hard on my bowling because I want to become an all-rounder that can put the overs in in Test cricket. Not just hoping that I am going to go OK. I want them to be certain if they throw me the ball that they can rely on this guy to go for two an over and he might pick up a wicket.

Q. Reliability? People have questioned it....

"The more I play the more consistent I will become. That is my first aim but I have got to keep myself in the side, playing 15 or 20 games without being dropped because then you have the confidence just to go out and perform rather than thinking 'when am I going to get left out?' That is the worst feeling you can have as a player. I want to keep myself in the side and just get very consistent with my performances.

Q. You're 25, you must want to be part of stuff like the Ashes win Down Under?

"Of course you want to be part of stuff like that. Stuff like that doesn't come round too often. It might come round more often now than in the past with the team we have got. It is the highlight of your career...