Ravi Bopara, the England allrounder, has turned down a lucrative offer to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in a bid to cement his place in the national side.

Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Hampshire captain, is England’s only representative in the Twenty20 competition but established internationals such as Kevin Pietersen and Ryan Sidebottom have admitted their interest in participating in the future.

Unlike them, Bopara is not centrally contracted to the ECB and would be free to pursue a contract with one of the eight IPL franchises if an agreement was reached with his county, Essex.

But he has turned down a six-figure contract from an unnamed side in favour of remaining with the Division Two county, where he has enjoyed a prolific start to the season.

“When figures like these are put in front of you it is tempting," he said. "But my goal is to play regularly for England so I am confident that, if I continue to score runs and take wickets for Essex, then I will hopefully play for England this summer and for many years to come.

“If I do this, and with the current talk of new competitions and one-off matches to sit alongside the IPL, then I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy the financial benefits in years to come.”

Bopara has scored 341 runs in three LV County Championship innings and tops his team’s bowling averages, with six wickets at an average of 18.

That has raised hopes of furthering his international ambitions after a winter during which he made his Test-match debut in Sri Lanka before being dropped for the New Zealand leg of the tour after three Tests.

The 23-year-old is a key part of the one-day set-up and his decision to remain in England rather than give into the temptation of a bumper pay packet for four weeks' work is sure to impress the ECB.

They have already sought to reduce the chances of players defecting to India by holding talks with Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire, over the possibility of staging a series of one-off challenge matches against a West Indies XI as well as a rival English Premier League.

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