RAMPRAKASH STEERS SURREY’S LISTING SHIP TO SAFETY by Marcus Hook
Warwickshire 338 & 26-0 v Surrey 225 & 313-5d. Match drawn.

Yesterday, when Mark Ramprakash was joined by Jonathan Batty in the first over after lunch with 62 overs remaining, six wickets in hand and a precarious lead of fifty, the threat of defeat was not the only thing Surrey had on their minds. There was also the concern that a tardy first innings over-rate could impact on the number of points they would need to garner from the final match of the campaign, against Middlesex at the Oval, in order to stave off being relegated.

Luckily, the hosts helped them out in more ways than one by proceeding to put down three chances in six overs from Makhaya Ntini - all of them off Batty before the 31-year-old stumper could settle into a 150-run partnership in 49 overs with Ramprakash - and finally agreeing to face enough overs at the end for the visitors to avoid being docked a half-point penalty. They cannot expect such charity from their North London rivals next week.

But the day will be remembered, perhaps not for very long, for the patient hundred scored by Mark Ramprakash; a former Middlesex man of course, who showed that relegation was not a word in his vocabulary and, even if it was, that relegation at the expense of his former employers staying up is anathema to him.

Ramprakash’s 126 in 277 minutes off 236 balls steered his side’s listing ship to safety. For Surrey, the equation is now simple - beat Middlesex next week, and score one more bonus point in the process, or be relegated. Even if they both finish the campaign with the same number of points, the Ovalites would stay up by virtue of their three defeats to Middlesex’s five (the North Londoners have so far suffered four).

Earlier, Surrey lost their skipper Mark Butcher in the sixth over of the day, when the former England number three was caught at silly point off Alex Loudon. Five overs later, still 43 runs in arrears, nightwatchman Saqlain Mushtaq departed to a catch at mid-off off Ntini; who left Edgbaston at tea to catch a plane bound for Cape Town. But Rikki Clarke, who is in a good run of form with the bat, steadied the visitors’ nerves slightly by helping to avert the possibility of an innings defeat in the 32nd over.

Six overs later Ramprakash moved to his half-century in 72 deliveries, with seven fours and a six, and then put up the ‘closed for business’ sign. He took a total of another 102 balls to reach his fifth hundred of the season and his 78th since first stepping on to the field as a professional back in 1987.

In the meantime, Dougie Brown had Clarke caught at short mid-wicket and had Batty gone to one of the chances he gave to the keeper, before scoring, to point or to slip it could have been a different story. He eventually finished unbowed on 76, an innings that included seven fours and three sixes.

Ramprakash’s leg-side deflection to Tony Frost off Jim Troughton’s left-arm spin brought about Surrey’s declaration in the 93rd over, by which time they had racked up a lead of 200. That then allowed them to adjust their over rate as the home side made 26 without loss.

GO TO:

BACK TO: