Mark Ramprakash: The Career of a Legend Part 3

Here is the final part of three blogposts I have written about Mark Ramprakash’s career between the years of 2009 and 2012.

2009 was yet another disappointing year for Surrey, as they failed to bounce straight back up to Division One under new coach Chris Adams. Ramps’ close friend, and club captain, Mark Butcher, announced his retirement from the game halfway through the season after a persistent knee injury, and Surrey were struggling to find a settled line up, as experienced players didn’t perform and the youngsters were still raw.

However, Ramps once again had a prolific year, averaging over 90 in the Championship, which led to many calling for him to be recalled to the England side for the final test of the 2009 Ashes. However, it wasn’t to be as Jonathan Trott was given the nod, and as they say, the rest is history.

This disappointment didn’t deter Ramprakash, who once again was the leading run scorer in the country the following year, scoring over 1500 runs, but a refreshed Surrey side with Hamilton-Brown as skipper couldn’t get promoted, but were certainly looking more promising.

At the end of the 2010 season, Ramprakash had gone past 40 and in October suffered an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. This was the first real injury that he had suffered throughout his career, and according to many, was the reason why his form has dipped dramatically over the last two seasons.

He had his worst season for Surrey in 2011, failing to reach 1000 First Class runs and scoring just the one century, and failing to get into the limited overs side. The team enjoyed success in both forms of the game, reclaiming promotion to Division One and winning the Clydesdale Bank 40, but Ramps failed to rediscover the form he had shown previously.

This year was even worse. Ramps looked absolutely nothing like the player he was before and even though nobody wished it, retirement looked more and more likely, as he was dropped from the side for the first time in ten years, and once again couldn’t break into the limited overs side. He scored just 107 runs from 10 innings, and it was hard for me as a supporter to see a man so good before, struggle so badly.

Mark Ramprakash is not only a hero of mine, but a legend of the game and Surrey County Cricket Club. As you have seen, he had an illustrious career, even though he never quite made it at international level.

As well as being a wonderful First Class batsman, he was also a fantastic one day player. He didn’t have the ability to score a 50 ball hundred, but his record of 13,273 runs at an average just over 40 speaks for itself, and for many years he was the leading run scorer in Domestic Twenty20, finishing his career with 1719 runs at a good average of over 32.

There are many wonderful memories that Ramps has given us throughout his career, but my favourite without doubt is when he got to his hundredth hundred. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time, when he cut David Wainwright behind square for four, and it still gives me goose bumps when I hear it now.

One of the greatest batsmen to ever play for our wonderful club. Thanks for the memories Mark, you will be sorely missed.