Tykes drive to stem Kash flow

9:09am Wednesday 21st May 2008

Yorkshire County Cricket Club coach coach Martyn Moxon believes Mark Ramprakash's England chance has passed - but is still concerned that the Surrey star could bulldoze the Tykes at the Oval.

The 38-year-old, who has 52 Test match caps to his name, is aiming to record the 100th hundred of a magical 22 season first-class career today.

However, former England colleague Darren Gough will not be in line to stop Ramps. As his Yorkshire side aim to bounce back from last week's County Championship defeat at Durham, Gough is to rest back and leg problems which have caused a few niggles.

That leaves the likes of Deon Kruis, Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan and Pakistani debutant Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to curb Ramprakash with Oliver Hannon-Dalby also called up to replace Ben Sanderson.

Ramprakash has already notched two centuries against Lancashire and Sussex this term.

And for the last few years, the right-hander's case for an England recall has been championed through sheer weight of runs.

"If he was going to play, then his chance would have probably come in the last couple of years when there has been a few openings here and there," said Moxon.

"But I think that his chance has probably just about gone. He hasn't quite got age on his side, although you never know."

Ramprakash has averaged above 100 in each of the last two seasons - and if he reaches the coveted landmark this week, he adds his name to a list that reads likes a version of the Cricketer's Who's Who.

Jack Hobbs leads the way with 199 tons, while the likes of WG Grace, Sir Don Bradman, Sir Viv Richards and Zaheer Abbas, to name just a few, grace the list.

Three Yorkshiremen have passed the mark - Geoff Boycott, Herbert Sutcliffe and Sir Len Hutton.

And the last man to reach the milestone was Worcestershire batsman Graeme Hick, ten years ago at New Road.

Moxon continued: "Over the last few years he has been absolutely remarkable. He fully deserves to get there, but just not this week. We have been studying any weakness that we can exploit.

"He can score runs all around the wicket. We have just to make sure that we are disciplined and probe the right lines and lengths. It's not rocket science really."

Ramprakash, formerly of Middlesex, was actually asked to go on standby for England's winter tour of Sri Lanka.

But he refused after being told that he would only get the nod if a senior batsman went down with an injury.

At the time, he said: "I said no' given that wording because there's so much ambiguity about it.

"What constitutes a senior batsman? It's not as if England have an ageing side. I felt it was an unfair offer."

Moxon added: "I guess that makes it all the more remarkable that he still has the appetite for runs."

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