The Guardian's Paul Weaver meets Mark Ramprakash, the Surrey batsman who is all set for his 100th hundred in first-class cricket, while still hoping to earn an England recall at the age of 38.
It is still his first century that Mark Ramprakash remembers most vividly. And he thought of it again yesterday morning as he packed his bags for the Rose Bowl where today he may become the 25th and probably the final cricketer to score 100 first-class centuries.
"It was for Middlesex against Yorkshire in 1989. Batting at Headingley can be challenging at the best of times and I was up against [Paul] Jarvis, Sidebottom - not Ryan, but his dad Arnie - and [Phil] Carrick. The ball was moving about, I got 128 and we won the game."
As Surrey go into their match against Hampshire today the England batsmen - all substantially inferior players, from a technical perspective - will be finalising their preparations for a Test at Lord's, cricket's grandest stage. It is a poignant backdrop to Ramprakash's potential piece of history-making.
