I’ve covered the whole squad now, and judging by the mailbag, the biggest issue is … Ramps. Half the comments express astonishment that he is even being mooted. The other half just want to see him on the plane. One correspondent accuses me of being on a “one-man crusade” here. It’s true that I’m a fan and that it has occasionally been a lonely business, but this time round, there’s plenty of company.
In today’s Guardian, Mike Selvey says that if there are “any qualms” about including Marcus Trescothick, and the selectors want a player of similar experience, “then Mark Ramprakash, the best technician of his generation with a good record in trying circumstances in Australia, should be included”. And Frank Keating, in his magnificently adjectival back-page column, points out that “stalwart ancients” like Graham Gooch and Geoff Boycott made stacks of Test runs in their late thirties.
Christopher Martin-Jenkins of The Times said on Monday that “one could make a good case” for Ramps. And in the new edition of The Wisden Cricketer, out later this week, David Fulton, the former Kent captain, joins the campaign. Asked if Ramps would be more philosophical and less intense now, Fulton says: “I think so, and I think he’d have a fabulous Ashes tour.” As one of the comments here says, it ain’t gonna happen. But it should.
But we don't want another Gooch! He improved his career stats at the expense of the ENGLAND TEAM. How old he was makes very little difference. And as for Boycott, well he believes Cook and Bell will be up to the task. Shah has to come before Ramprakash.
Butcher at least is a lefthander, in case trescothick can't play. But I think he will and let's not forget how he dominated them in 2005. It doesn't matter that he didn't get a ton. He scored over 400 runs against them in 5 tests. He was second in the averages and was responsible more than anyone else for changing things round after the Lords debacle by taking it to them in the first session. Something that, surely the biggest Ramprakash fans can't really see happening?
Posted by: Nick Aro at September 12, 2006 2:22 PM
I dont think that England should take chances by taking Ramps instead of Marcus who should be ready by time Ashes start. Personally i feel Butcher is a bette choice as it gives them an option for 3rd opener but I really doubt if selectors would be willing to give any of these 2 (Ramps & Butcher) any chance.
Posted by: Colin Edwards at September 12, 2006 3:04 PM
As much As I would have loved to have seen Ramps back in the Middle for England putting the Aussies Bowlers to the Sword, I feel the Selectors have gone the right way, Marcus is still currently the best opener in the country, and he still has time to recover from the ailments he has, I don't believe that missing the ICC Tournament will be detrimental at all, I think that the inclusion of a half fit Ashley Giles is more of a concerned after all he hasn't played any Cricket really for over a year.
Posted by: HR at September 12, 2006 3:07 PM
CMJ, bless him, has been a Ramprakash supporter for a long time, and for many years after it became absolutely clear that the chap would never cut it at Test level. Remarkably, he was at it again this week.
There's a case for Butcher, but Ramprakash? you might as well consider Hick and Salisbury.
Posted by: Akshay at September 12, 2006 5:32 PM
Its time now for England to just back themselves and look ahead to the tour now that a few clouds have been sprayed away. There are no surprises, thankfully! This is the best possible team based on promise and international performance in recent times and isn't that how it should be?
England should remind themselves that they are the Ashes holders , and it will be Australia who will need to start all the worrying if they face a score of 300 for 2 on a bright opening day at the Gabba.
Posted by: McKenzie at September 12, 2006 9:55 PM
Picking Ramps would have been a real throwback to the 1990's and when England selectors just couldn't make their minds up and stick with a team. To say that Ramps is past it is to acknowledge that he ever had it. Which is just about as big a lie as saying that Graeme Hick cracked the international game, just that his average is about 20 runs lower of what it was expected it to be.
I just don't think the sight of Ramprakash walking in to bat will scare the Aussie bowlers into faking a cramp just to avoid bowling. England could really use some intimadating characters in their Ashes defence, cricketers like Flintoff, Pieterson, Harmison etc. Isn't it quite clear by now that averaging a million runs an innings in county cricket doesn't mean anything? Just search Graeme Hick and see his numbers. And by the way, Trescothick averages 30 in county cricket, yet is the most valuable English batsman.
Posted by: Kunal Talgeri at September 19, 2006 11:40 AM
Hi Tim,
I am a big Mark Ramprakash fan myself, and felt he should be in the Ashes squad, especially after his form in the domestic season. But perhaps, we'd return to the point of the 'iPod Generation', made by Naseer Hussain when he announced his retirement.
The way the current crop of international cricketers play the game is a far cry from what Hussain and even his mentor, Graham Gooch, played.
A younger Ramprakash might have benefited immensely under the leadership style demonstrated by Michael Vaughan in the last Ashes series. Unfortunately, the English leadership of the 1990s didn't know what to make of cricketers like Ramprakash.
To be fair, he is one of the mysteries of the game. How, for instance, could Ramprakash fail against the Kiwis when he could stand upto the strong Aussies on their home turf in the mid-1990s???
One is going to miss Mark Rampraksh's elegant cover drive, that wonderful position of the feet and immaculate follow-through of the bat.
Cheers, to the memory!
- Kunal,
Bangalore, India
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Tim de Lisle is a former editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, Wisden.com and Wisden Cricket Monthly, where he won an Editor of the Year award in 1999. He is now a cricket columnist for The Times and Cricinfo. A former feature writer on The Daily Telegraph and arts editor of The Independent on Sunday, he writes about rock music for The Mail on Sunday and was shortlisted for Critic of the Year in the British Press Awards 2005. He plays cricket in the park with his children, bowling mediocre offbreaks.
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