The trials and tribulations of Mark Ramprakash's career

Final days of Mark Ramprakash’s Test career

Mark Ramprakash’s longtime friend and the then captain, Nasser Hussain, as well as England’s coach, Duncan Fletcher, were keen on recalling him back into the set-up. In the summer of England’s cricket season in 2000, he was given a chance to play against Zimbabwe and West Indies.

However, Ramprakash couldn’t stamp his authority in the few Tests he played that season. When he got out to the same old combination of Ambrose and Walsh in the famous Lord’s Test, it seemed for a moment that he had just played his last Test match. After losing his wicket to Walsh in the second innings of that Test, Ramprakash cut a forlorn figure while sitting and watching the game from the Lord’s balcony. Interestingly, 16 of his 52 Tests came against West Indies, in which he made just 591 runs at a disappointing average of 21.10.

In the 2001 Ashes series, England’s cricket team was reeling with injuries and loss of form to key players. It resulted in Ramprakash getting what was his final chance to make a name for himself in the Test arena.

In the early part of the series, he struggled to come to grips with facing up to a high-class Australian bowling line-up. The low point of the series for him being the horrible agricultural-hoick he tried to play against the Wizard of Oz, Warne, and gifting his wicket away on a platter at Trent Bridge.

Mark Ramprakash though, endeared to the capacity crowd at Oval in the final Test of the series with a sparkling century. It turned out to be his second and the last century that he would make in Test cricket. Australia’s champion cricketers were bewildered, as they just couldn’t believe their eyes that he was the same cricketer who played a horrendous shot at Trent Bridge.

During England’s trip to New Zealand the following year, Ramprakash played his final Test match. One vividly remembers Ramprakash’s last Test at Auckland, but for all the wrong reasons.

In what was a rain-marred Test match, and Ramprakash came in to bat with England tottering at 60 for 4. Instead of looking to rebuild the innings with a calm head on his shoulders, he tried to smash the cover off the ball, only for the bottom-hand to come off his bat handle and was caught behind by Adam Parore off Daryl Tuffey’s bowling.

As a keen cricket observer, I felt numb for a few moments, as one couldn’t envisage a player known for sheer technical brilliance trying a wild slog. It almost seemed like he wanted to take the frustrations of all the trials and tribulations of his entire Test career on the red cherry.

Mark Ramprakash touches exalted heights in county cricket

In spite of his Test career all but over, the willowy-master entered a phase of supreme unmatched excellence in county cricket. In 2001, he left Middlesex for Surrey, as he was disillusioned with Middlesex’s management. He also wanted to play in the first division of the County Championship.

In particular, 2006 was an annus mirabilis for Ramprakash. In that season, with a Stakhanovite–like vigour, he topped the batting charts by aggregating 2278 runs at a Bradman-esque average of 103.54.

Mark Ramprakash playing for Surrey

Ramprakash’s achievement of becoming the first man to score over 150 runs in an innings in five consecutive matches was truly an awe-inspiring feat. He also became the first cricketer to aggregate over 2,000 runs in county cricket since Mike Hussey in 2001. He was duly recognised for his outstanding achievements in 2006 with him being voted as the Professional Cricketers’ association player of the year.

Riding on the wings of his excellence in 2006, the following year, Ramprakash was yet again very prolific in county cricket. He finished the 2007 season with 2,026 first class runs, including ten centuries, at an average of 101.30.

Ramprakash was also a thorn in the flesh of Lancashire’s team that season. His twin centuries in Lancashire’s final match at Oval in 2007 resulted in Lancashire losing a nerve-wracking contest and with it, the chances of lifting the coveted County Championship slipped out of their hands. It was a period in which Ramprakash was virtually scoring centuries and double centuries in torrents.

The insatiable hunger Ramprakash showed for his runs in county cricket made a few journalists believe that he should be recalled to play for England. But by then, England’s selectors were looking more towards youth rather than going back to Ramprakash.

In fact, Ramprakash was said to be very close to being selected for the tour to Emerald Isles in 2007-2008. When Ramprakash averaged 90 in the 2009 county season, a few eternal optimists again harboured hopes of Ramprakash playing in the Ashes series, but it wasn’t to be.

In 2008, Ramprakash touched heavenly heights in first class cricket by becoming only the 25th player in history to make 100 hundreds in first class cricket. It was a testimony to his amazing fitness that he could last more than two decades of gruelling professional cricket.

Ramprakash was no doubt a sui generis in terms of fitness. But all good things have to come to an end, as Ramprakash was sidelined with a career-threatening knee injury while playing a football match for charity in 2010.

By 2012, it was clearly evident that he was on his last legs as a player. So after dominating the county circuit like a run-making machine for more than two decades, he finally hung up his spiked boots last year. Since his retirement, Ramprakash has taken up the mantle of being the batting coach of his old county – Middlesex.