Swann and Bopara Offer Hope

Temperament is a key element of elite sport. So often the difference between a good player and a great player or a team's success or failure, a good temperament in the heat of battle is a vital thing. In recent decades it has enabled Australia to produce both winning players and winning teams. Many an Ashes contest has been decided before it even began, the fragile and vulnerable mental state of the English failing to prove a match for the superior confidence and mind-set of the old enemy.

Ravi Bopara and Graeme Swann possess un-English temperaments, which bodes well at the start of an Ashes summer. How refreshing it is to see the marriage of ability with supreme confidence and an ultra-relaxed demeanor. We've never struggled to produce the ability in this country, but the latter has proved more illusive. Take the cases of Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash. They should have shared 40 Test centuries between them, and perhaps with Bopara's carefree approach to batting they would have. We can only hope Ian Bell takes a leaf out of the Essex man's book before he joins that unenviable list. 

Stories keep emerging about Bopara. Whether he's offering Pietersen earnest advice about how to fend off the type of delivery that accounted for him in his first innings golden duck, or having no clue what his interviewer meant by the term 'FEC', they reveal a refreshing and uncomplicated character. And it's a character which may just enable him to reveal his talent as often as befits an Ashes number 3 batsman; the nature of the opposition, one feels, won't overly bother Bopara.

The same can be assumed of Graeme Swann. Early in his career, Swann was viewed as an arrogant character - presumably because he had the audacity not to be consumed by self-doubt. He's had to wait longer than he deserved for a decent run in the side, and, as his no-nonsense hitting and beautifully flighted deliveries showed, he won't be wasting any time from here on.

Swann, the highest wicket taker in Test cricket this year, will play a crucial role in the Ashes. The Australians have had a handy knack of making the best bowlers look ordinary, but Swann will ensure they know they're in a battle from the off, and unlike others before him, he'll make sure it's settled on the pitch, and not before entering it. 

Bopara and Swann possess enviable temperaments, which in both cases will more than make up for a relative lack of international caps when they take to the pitch in Cardiff. They will be fearless and look to take the opposition on. If their teammates follow suit then England can regain the Ashes.