Ravi Bopara has signed a new T20 contract with Sussex, extending his stay with the Sharks for a few more seasons.
The club said: “The legendary all-rounder first joined the club at the end of 2019 and has been a crucial member of the Sussex Sharks Vitality Blast team during the last two seasons.
“The 36-year-old has scored three half-centuries in this summer’s campaign – and his 228 runs at an average of 38 have been an important factor in the Sharks’ progression to the quarter-finals later this month.
“Ravi has also played a useful part with the ball, taking seven wickets with an economy rate of just 6.76 runs per over.
“One of the outstanding players of the T20 era, Ravi has played almost 400 matches in the format for teams all over the world, including 38 matches for England.
“His 7,668 runs make him the 17th highest run-scorer in T20 history and his 241 wickets make him the 29th leading wicket-taker of all time.”
Bopara said: “I’m really pleased to be extending my stay at this wonderful club. The past couple of years have been very different to what I had expected when signing for Sussex but thanks to everyone at the club I feel very at home now.
“JK (James Kirtley) and the rest of the coaching staff have been brilliant to work with this season and hopefully we are on the verge of something special with our Blast quarter-final coming up.
“I am hopeful that this could be the start of a period of dominance for the Sharks in the T20 competition and that’s something I want to be part of in the years to come.
“From now on, I will be focusing on T20 cricket. I have loved playing red-ball cricket over the years and obviously have some incredible memories in Championship and Test cricket with Essex and England.
“But my aim now is to get the best out of myself in the T20 format and see where that can take me and the teams I play for.”
Sussex’s T20 head coach James Kirtley said: “It’s great to have Ravi with us for the next few seasons. The role he plays for Sussex and the knowledge from the vast experiences he has had are key to our T20 team.
“I have enormously enjoyed working with Ravi and getting to know him better. His input at all levels has been hugely appreciated and his positive influence over our squad is massively valued.
“I look forward to seeing more match-winning performances from Ravi this year and in future seasons.”
