The astounding Mr Ramprakash

A couple of weeks ago we were wondering whether Mark Ramprakash would ever get to 100 first-class hundreds. Having got two hundreds by the end of April, it took him 11 innings, spread over three months, to get his third hundred of the year and reach the landmark. Well now there is no stopping him.

After making 112 not out at Headingley, he made his 101st century with 200 not out at Taunton last week and today, back on home soil at the Oval, is on 133 not out at stumps. Three innings, 445 runs and not out once. Knowing Ramprakash he may well carry on scoring hundreds for the rest of the season. He is on the threshold of passing 1,000 runs in the championship yet again and his average of 72 is 12 runs more than the next man. You will no doubt recall that he ended 2006 and 2007 averaging more than 100, which is very very rare.

So what does this say about him? That it proves he has psychological problems with pressure and that when the expectation is off he is brilliant? Or that he simply hit a small dry patch (and ten innings without a hundred isn't a bad fallow period) and is now motoring again and should be in the England team? Either way, it will be well worth keeping tabs on how MR Ramprakash finishes the last month of the season. Three years in a row with an average about 100 would be something extremely special.

Comments

[Paul]

I have played against Ramps and Langer. Ramps in my opinion was the more complete player. I can't help but feel Ramps was a young man trying to make it at International Cricket and suffered because England were a very poor team at the time. The team had no confidence or cohesion and was always under pressure. Also remember at the time Graeme Hick only faired marginally better. Both of these players have been the best English batsmen in County Cricket for the last decade.

[Rajash]

RAMG - County Criecket is not sub-standard- there are international overseas stars- further it's played during English summer during when the cricketing calendar locally is not slack but crowded with two international test series and ODIs.

Ramps achievement is not just getting 100 hundreds in addition he topped 2000 runs in two consequtive years and averaged 100 in two consequetive years and may average 100 again this year.

This is really astounding and he deserves to be in the greats as stated.

He is techncally the best batsman ever even compared to Sachin.

[Robin]

Not sure I agree with your last sentence, RAMG. Considering how much cricket used to be played at county level compared to how it is now, it says something that relatively few people have a) managed this landmark in the past and b) how we should applaud anyone who has achieved it since the amount of matches were scaled down!

If you ask me, Ramps is a little bit special.

[RamG]

Sorry guys! I didn't imagine that this would be so emotive an issue! I stay thousands of miles away but follow the game. Probably distance brings in a certain perpective and little more objectivity.

There is a hue and cry about my remark on the sub-standard county cricket. My point is that's the case in all major cricketing nations, save Australia. No other sport has such a yawning gap in the standard of play between the top two tiers- international and domestic first-class. So with due repect to Ramps and his achievement, there is a need to view the same with some perspective.

Also, my point is that English domestic cricket is played in those months when the international calendar is relatively 'slack.' Therefore, in the absence of top-class cricket, county cricket gets the reader's attention which wouldn't happen in a crowded international calendar. After all, a cricket fan would follow international cricket because of the yawning gap as explained above.

My views were directed on the excessive media coverage on the century of centuries, which has put Ramps in the league of Hobbs, Hutton, Bradman, and Hammond! Not fair at all, considering their obvious class! Let's not drag Justin Langer into this! Statistics don't lie always - anybody who plays county cricket at a reasonable level for twenty years can get there!

[Ann]

See what you have done, Jamie? Made me spill my coffee on the keyboard from laughing so much, simply by putting together the words "the ICC is a capable world leader" ;-)

[Ann]

Substandard ... average ...
Haven't heard such nonsense for a long time.
Please can I have some of that weed you are on?
Ramps is an absolute phenomenon. He should be in the England side, being a far better player than many mediocre ones who were given the chance. If he fails to deliver the goods next time, then fair enough. But my assessment is that it was simply at the wrong time for him in the past.
If Harmison can crumble as he has done in the past, after being world no. 1, and come back as he has been doing recently, it would be criminal waste not to recall Ramps.

[Marv Slack]

Sorry RAMG - Sub-standard? - compared to what? Justin Langer one of the few aussies not playing ''Ashes Kidology''
reckons first division cricket at least on a par with ''Strine'' State Cricket. Ramps, bless him, just has NEVER been the big match guy....he had so many opportunities at test level.

[Jamie Dowling]

What planet is RAMG on? There is a lot of delusion going around the cricket and sports world at the moment: the idea that the ICC is a capable world leader, the idea that the PCB is a competent national body, the idea that the BCCI is purely interested in controlling cricket in India, the idea that the English Premier League is anything but a glorified money making machine with overpaid players who deserve nothing like the mindless publicity they get.

RAMG offers no evidence to back up his comments. Take a look at Justin Langer's assessment of Mark Ramprakash on the BBC website. That carries far more weight than his effort. Will RAMG be putting together some evidence to back up these claims and present a cogent argument rather than a snide "rant from behind the keyboard"?

Until then I'll take Justin Langer's comments as more accurate thank you very much.

[Mark]

102 1st class centuries is pretty good for someone who isn't either a champion or an honest trier!

In Ramps' case, playing Sussex seems to help, so I dread to think how many he would have if he'd got to play them twice a season his whole career.

[Robbie]

The comments posted above by RAMG are nearly as atounding as Mr Ramprakash. If the County Championship is sub-standard as he asserts then there should be many other batsmen (ex-England etc) who can compete with Ramps in County Cricket. There are none.

I thought this was a great article. Keep them coming.

[RamG]

Sorry Patrick! What it tells me is that Ramps struggles when the conditions are bowling-friendly in the first half od the summer and finds it comfortable when the pitches dry out / flatten out! Precisely the reason why he struggled in the international cricket.
Also, I find the excessive attention paid to an average cricket too nauseating!! The world of sport is about champions and honest triers! Ramps doesn't belong to either of the group! What helps his cause is that the sub-standard county cricket gets too much of coverage!