He will be 40 years of age next month, but there is still time for the England selectors to swallow their pride and give us a chance of winning the Ashes at the Oval, by bringing back one of the most talented English-born batsman of his generation, Mark Ramprakash.
Perhaps Ramps was never the most easy going person to get on with (he has served a two-match suspension this year for abusing Sussex’s Murray Goodwin) and admittedly his Test batting record doesn’t stand up alongside some of his less talented contemporaries (including Ravi Bopara). But there are precedents for recalling people in the twilight of their careers to steady an sinking ship. Colin Cowdrey was recalled to the England team to try to stem the hurricane of Lillee and Thompson, and Brian Close similarly to face up to Holding and Roberts. Both had some success in putting some spine into batting line-ups suffering from a crisis of confidence.
Ramps plays at the Oval and has been prolific there over the last four years, and I would bet a £1,000 to a bucket of manure that he would score at least as many as the combined total of Bell, Bopara and Collingwood in the current Test (16 runs between them in two innings, to save you having to check).
UPDATE: Momentum is growing.
However, I wouldn’t bet a single penny on the English selectors doing the right thing… bringing back Ramps (and giving a baptism of fire to young Adil Rashid – a spinner who can take wickets and bat a bit too).
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Ye of little faith. We haven’t lost this test yet. All that we need is a Willie Watson/Trevor Bailey type performance from the second test in 1953. Plus an earthquake. It is 118-6 at the moment.
Ye Gods, Councillor. If the answer is “bring back Mark Ramprakash” you’re clearly asking the wrong question.
Jackart, if the question is… Who will make more runs than Bopara?… then I beg to differ. Ramprakash has been the most prolific English batsman of the last decade.
If that’s your criteria, perhaps I should be dusting off my whites in anticipation of a call from the selectors…
Seriously though, Ramprakash hasn’t exactly done it for England, has he? It’s not as if he was ignored by the selectors, 52 tests, with an average of less than 30.
Test bowlers hardly ever play county cricket…
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘criteria’. Scoring more runs than anyone else (who are all facing the same bowlers, by the way) doesn’t seem like an unfair criteria.
If Ramps had been given the opportunity to bat against the worst West Indian bowling attack for 60 years like Bopara, he would have been able to lift that average significantly. Because let’s face it… they ain’t Test bowlers either. Take Ravi’s three centuries against them away and he would wet himself for an average of 30!
actually, I quite like Bopara… but he is young, and shell shocked. Hopefully he will come good… but not in the 5th Test please!
Keep on bringing them back we will have Botham next