Mark Ramprakash

Mark Ramprakash

Personal information
Full name	Mark Ravin Ramprakash
Nickname	Ramps, Bloodaxe, The Hips
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm off-spin
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 549)	June 6 1991 v West Indies
Last Test	April 3 2002 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 114)	May 25 1991 v West Indies
Last ODI	October 13 2001 v Zimbabwe
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1987-2000	Middlesex
2001-2007	Surrey (squad no. 77)
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs FC LA Matches 52 18 404 380 Runs scored 2,350 376 30,956 12,195 Batting average 27.32 26.85 53.37 39.46 100s/50s 2/12 0/1 99/134 14/79 Top score 154 51 301* 147* Balls bowled 895 132 4,171 1734 Wickets 4 4 34 46 Bowling average 119.25 27.00 64.58 29.43 5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 1 10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a Best bowling 1/2 3/28 3/32 5/38 Catches/stumpings 39/- 8/- 236/- 127/-
Source: CricketArchive, May 3rd 2008

Mark Ravin Ramprakash (born 5 September 1969) is an English cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he first made his name playing for Middlesex, and was selected for England aged 21. Ramprakash is widely regarded as the finest English batsman of his generation, but he failed to perform over a long international career. He has been particularly prolific since his moving to Surrey in 2001, averaging over 100 runs per innings in successive seasons (2006 & 2007).

Career

Early career and Middlesex

Ramprakash was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire. He attended Gayton High School, and then Harrow Weald Sixth Form College. He showed early promise for Middlesex aged just 17, scoring 63 not out in his first match against Yorkshire, and top-scoring with 71 in his second match against Essex at Chelmsford in 1987 (he was still a sixth-form student at the time). He scored his maiden first-class century at Headingley against Yorkshire in 1989, and captained the England U-19 team. He came to national prominence when, at the age of only 18, he won the man-of-the match award in the 1988 NatWest Trophy Final. His innings of 56 was instrumental in Middlesex beating Worcestershire.

Test career

Ramprakash was selected for his first Test match for England against the West Indies at Headingley in 1991. This was the same game in which Graeme Hick made his England Test debut, and like Hick, he struggled to impress producing a series of scores in the 20s. He was dropped in 1992 after a number of poor performances. However, his consistent heavy scoring in county cricket meant that he was always on the fringes of selection.

He was recalled to the England team for the final Test of the 1993 Ashes series. With Australia already 4-0 up it was a dead rubber, but he produced his first substantial innings for England by scoring 64 to help the team grab a consolation victory. This booked him a place on the subsequent tour of the West Indies. However, another string of low scores meant he was dropped and out of the selectors' plans. Ramprakash was not selected in the touring party for the 1994-95 Ashes series, but was chosen as vice-captain for the England A tour to India. However, an injury to Graeme Hick meant that he was flown out to play in the final Ashes Test scoring a useful 72. He was in and out of the team over the next few years, but continued to score heavily for Middlesex.

A breakthrough of sorts came in the 1997-98 Test series against the West Indies when he scored 154 not out in the fifth Test in Barbados. It was his first Test century and it earned him regular selection for the England team for the next few years. While he scored a number of fifties against various teams (notably Australia), he was only able to add one more century to his tally - 133 against Australia at the The Oval in the 2001 Ashes series. He was not picked again after England's tour of New Zealand in March 2002.

At Surrey

In 2001, with Middlesex struggling in the second division of the County Championship, he joined Surrey in order to play first-division cricket. In the 2003 season, he became the first player to have scored a century against all 18 county teams. He completed the set with a century against his former county Middlesex. Only Carl Hooper and Chris Adams have since achieved this feat.

Ramprakash became the first man to captain both Middlesex and Surrey when he stood in for Mark Butcher at the start of the 2005 English cricket season. With Butcher not recovering until the middle of August, Ramprakash remained captain for most of the season. Ramprakash's move to Surrey, which upset many Middlesex members, backfired in 2005: they were relegated after a miserable season for the side, in which the team was docked eight Championship points for ball tampering (while Ramprakash was captain). In their final Championship game, against Middlesex, who were also in danger of relegation, Ramprakash gained personal consolation by hitting 252, sharing a county record fifth-wicket partnership of 318 with Azhar Mahmood (who scored 204 not out) as Surrey made 686 for five declared and won by an innings and 39 runs. However, all this came after Surrey had conceded the point that sent them down.

In 2006, Ramprakash, relieved of the captaincy, enjoyed outstanding form, making a career-best 292 against Gloucestershire in May, then improving that with 301 not out against Northamptonshire in early August. Later that month against Worcestershire he made 196 in the first innings, in the process passing 2,000 runs in first-class cricket for the summer in only his 20th innings (a record). Ramprakash, the leading run scorer in 2006, was the first man to score 2,000 runs in a season since the Australian Mike Hussey in 2001, and the first Englishman to do it since Ramprakash himself back in 1995. He also became the first man to score over 150 runs in an innings in five consecutive matches. He ended with 2,278 runs at an average of 103.54, becoming only the sixth man to average over one hundred over eight or more completed first-class innings in an English season. This performance was instrumental in gaining Surrey promotion back into the first division. His outstanding form even led some commentators to say that the England selectors should consider him for that winter's Ashes tour: Mike Selvey called him "the best technician of his generation with a good record in trying circumstances in Australia" and said that he should be considered as a possible replacement for Marcus Trescothick. He was not, however, chosen. His 2006 form also won him the Professional Cricketers' Association Player Of The Year Award and selection as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

In 2007 Ramprakash was once again the most prolific batsman in county cricket. He finished the season with 2,026 first class runs, including ten centuries, at an average of 101.30, becoming the only man to average over 100 in two consecutive English seasons. His twin hundreds in the final game of the season, against Lancashire, are widely said to have cost Lancashire the championship. His focus and professionalism in a match in which Surrey had little to play for led some to remark that he should be recalled to the England side. At the age of 38, however, and with a long track record of failure at international level, this is seen as unlikely. In 2008 Ramprakash maintained his form, scoring a century in his first innings of the season - his third consecutive first-class century, all against Lancashire. Two matches later, at the beginning of May, he scored his 99th century, in a draw against Sussex at Hove.

Reality television

In 2006 Ramprakash and Karen Hardy won the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. The couple beat Matt Dawson, former England rugby player, and Lilia Kopylova in the final. Ramprakash was the second consecutive cricketer to win the show, following former England team mate Darren Gough.

Performance

Week #	Dance	Judges' score					Result
		Hoorwood	Phillips	Goodman	Tonioli	Total
1	Cha-Cha-Cha	7	7	7	6	27	Safe
3	Tango	7	8	8	9	32	Safe
4	Paso Doble	8	9	9	9	35	Safe
5	Salsa	9	9	9	9	36	Safe
6	American Smooth	8	9	7	9	33	Safe
7	Rumba	5	6	8	8	27	Safe
8	Viennese Waltz	9	9	9	9	36	Safe
9	Foxtrot Samba	7 9	7 9	7 9	7 9	28 36	Safe
10	Waltz Jive	9 5	9 7	9 8	9 7	36 27	Safe
11	Quickstep Argentine Tango	9 9	9 10	8 10	8 10	34 39	Safe
12	Tango Salsa Samba	8 10 9	8 10 9	9 10 9	9 10 9	34 40 36	Won

Mark and Karen appeared on the first Sunday results show of the new series of "Strictly Come Dancing" to dance the salsa.

On 9th March 2008 Ramprakash appeared on the Cbbc show Hider In The House, setting up dad Ian Smeeton, with Ian's wife Wendy, two children Will and Pippa, and their friend Dougy in Cambridge. He completed all his challenges.

In a special edition of Strictly Come Dancing for Sport Relief on 14th March 2008, Ramprakash and partner Kara Tointon were the winners after performing a salsa.

Personal life

At Harrow Weald Sixth Form College, he was Captain of the Football First XI 1987-88.

He first met his wife, Vandana, in 1988. Ramprakash was attending a cricket function in North West London, while Vandana was at a party in the same building. They married in 1993 and have two daughters, Cara (born 1997) and Anya (born 2002). The family lived in Northwood, Middlesex, before separating in January 2008.

External links

• Mark Ramprakash profile at Cricinfo
• Ramprakash The Magnificent
• Cricket Archive
• Surrey CCC player profile