Ravinder Bopara, the Essex allrounder, has signed a one-year contract extension at the county taking him up to the end of the 2008 season.

Bopara, 21, has just flown out to Perth with the England Academy squad.

He told the Essex CCC website: �..The only reason I haven�..t signed a longer extension of two or three years is because I don�..t know what�..s going to happen down the line. I can see where my career is going to go over the next year/year-and-a-half so I�..m happy to sign until 2008 and then look ahead from there.

�..I�..ve got no interest in going anywhere else but I just want to keep my options open. I feel good about playing for Essex because we are winning competitions and getting through to latter stages of competitions.�.�

Bopara is extremely highly thought of on the circuit and scored 806 runs at 38.38 in the County Championship in 2006, with a top score of 157, as well as taking 19 wickets at 47.47.

He also played a major all-round part in Essex's success in both the Twenty20 competition and the NatWest Pro40 league.

It is a further boost for Essex after they tied England batsman Alastair Cook to a new contract in recent weeks.