Knights in Whites

As Mark Ramprakash scores another hundred in a great start to his season, KnightsinWhites.com have setup a dedicated countdown that will show Mark Ramprakash as he edges ever closer to the historical 100 hundreds mark! A feat that has only been achieved by few legendry England Batsman, such as Graham Gooch (128), Geoffrey Boycott (151) and Jack Hobbs (199).

Mark’s Stats

Born September 5, 1969, Bushey, Hertfordshire
Age 37
Teams England, Middlesex, Surrey
Nickname Ramps, Bloodaxe
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Height 5.10 ft

Mark’s Career

Mark was playing for Middlesex County Cricket Club when he scored his first first-class century at Headingley against Yorkshire in 1989. Between 1991 and 1997, Mark was in-and-out of the England squad, usualy used as a last minute replacement, notably in the final games of 1993 & 1995 Ashes Series - where he put in a notable score of 64 & 72 respectivly. It was not until the 1997-98 Test series against the West Indies when a breakthrough of sorts came and the ‘Bloodaxe’ (Marks nickname) scored 154 not out in the 5th Test in Barbados. It was his first Test century and it earned him regular selection for the England team for the next few years.

Mark continued to shine in the county game and in the 90’s alone racked up 47 centuries for Middlesex.

In 2001, with Middlesex struggling in the second division of the County Championship, Ramps joined Surrey County Cricket Club 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.

2005 was a tough year for Mark as captain for Surrey, they had been docked points for alleged ball tampering and was facing certain relegation from Division One, and in the final Championship game, Surrey’s relegation was confirmed: the game was ironically against Middlesex, who were also in danger of relegation. After Surrey had conceded the point which sent them down, Ramprakash gained personal consolation by hitting 252.

In the 2006 season, 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. 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.

in 2007 we could see Mark finally get into the records with an amazin 100 first-class centuries - something KnightsinWhites.com will be watching very keenly. Watch this space.

Mark - we sallute you!

View Ramps’ Centuries

Useful Links

Sources:- wikipedia.com, cricinfo.com, cricketarchive.com

• Mark Ramprakash Profile on cricinfo.com
• Mark Ramprakash on Wikipedia
• Mark Ramprakash player profile at Surrey CCC
• Mark Ramprakash player profile at CricketArchive.com (source for Ramps’ Centuries)

Webmasters

Do you have your own site? Want to help spread the word for the final countdown to Mark’s 100 first-class centuries? If you have your own blog or website, why not add the ticker to your site? Below is the code you need, this will automatically countdown each century from Mark.

Copy and paste this code onto you website - simple as that!

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"
src="http://www.knightsinwhites.com/rampswatch/
ramps-watch.php"></script>

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