Ramps stands alone

[max1_]

Ramprakash obviously has great technique and is too good at FC level. But at Test level, the most important requirement is temperament. It's here that the likes of Ramprakash, Hicks, Manjrekar, etc failed.

[King]

Division One. Mark Ramprakash: 819 @ 117.00 Michael Di Venuto: (Australia) 601 @ 85.85 Mark Goodwin: (Aust.) 529 @ 58.77 Jacques Rudolph: (Sth. Africa) 513 @ 72.28 Dale Benkenstein: (S.A.) 471 @ 103* Division Two. Justin Langer: (Australia) 723 @ 80.33 David Hussey: (Aust.) 697 @ 99.57 Cameron White: (Aust.) 678 @ 75.33 Simon Katich: (Aust.) 642 @ 107.00 Marcus North: (Aust.) 565 @ 56.50

How strange is that list? Out of the top 10 scorers in the Div 1 and 2, 7 of them are from Australia :omg_smile: and 2 from South Africa. There's only one English cricketer in that list. This is the story of English domestic cricket.

[Predator_05]

How strange is that list? Out of the top 10 scorers in the Div 1 and 2, 7 of them are from Australia :omg_smile: and 2 from South Africa. There's only one English cricketer in that list. This is the story of English domestic cricket.

All the good English batsman play for England.

[Lurker]

How strange is that list? Out of the top 10 scorers in the Div 1 and 2, 7 of them are from Australia :omg_smile: and 2 from South Africa. There's only one English cricketer in that list. This is the story of English domestic cricket.

This is also the reason why Australia are the number 1 team in the world. Australian cricketer perform on every turf under every conditions. Heck I think if an Aussie second XI was made it would perhaps be still good enough to whip every other cricket country in the world. xx

[Predator_05]

What would an Aussie second XI look like ? I am guessing something like this ? Jacques Rogers Hussey North Voges Thornley Haddin+ White Bichel Johnson Bracken I reckon England and SA's Test XIs could beat this team.

[Donny]

Interesting subject. As a long time cricket captain/coach, I was very careful not to destroy a young player's natural flair by insisting on 'correct technique'. It's a balance. An angled backlift, for instance, is not a problem unless it's getting you out. It's reasonable to start a beginner with correct technique but, even then, I'd check out how well he hit the straight ball, the swinger or the spinner. If it was obvious he had very good hand/eye co-ordination, I'd work with that. Three batsmen already mentioned - Bradman, Gilly and KP - do/did not have perfect technique but who would criticise their results? Doug Walters was another who comes to mind. Would a correct batsman hook the last ball of the day for a six to bring up his century in a session as he did against Bob Willis in Perth? Do we really want to see robotic batsmen, all using correct technique, all scoring at under 50% strike rate, all taking no risks. Of course not. Who thrills the fans? As much as purists 'tut tut' at the audacity of the Gillys, KPs and Afridis of our wonderful game, I applaud them.

[Donny]

Update on Ramps. 84 & 33 against Worcester. Season: 936 @ 104 Others: Cam White scored 114 in Somerset's huge win against Leicester. For the season: 792 runs @ 79.2 with 4 centuries. David Hussey: 98 & 63 against Glamorgan. Season: 858 @ 95.33 Murray Goodwin: 2 & 99 for Sussex. Season:630 @ 57.27

[Lurker]

Three batsmen already mentioned - Bradman, Gilly and KP - do/did not have perfect technique but who would criticise their results? Doug Walters was another who comes to mind. Would a correct batsman hook the last ball of the day for a six to bring up his century in a session as he did against Bob Willis in Perth? As much as purists 'tut tut' at the audacity of the Gillys, KPs and Afridis of our wonderful game, I applaud them.

Donny. Players like Gilly, KP, Walters, Afridi are what I would say the characters of the game. They are not technically correct but they are effective in their own way. To them if a ball is to be hit then it gets hit regardless of the situation the match is in. Of course in this certain players are better than others. For example KP and Gilly are far more successful when they have their back to the walls than say an Afridi or a Doug Walters, but the modus ope***** remains the same. I am with you with avoiding tinkering with basic technique of a player but they surely can be guided to cut down on what causes their downfall, as an example if a player gets dismissed hooking consistently it is better to perhaps cut that shot altogether from his repertoire. By the way I am intrigued by your mention of Bradman in the list. Bradman was technically quite correct though he had moments when he would let go of technicalities, not too different than say a Sunil Gavaskar scoring his century in LOI in 80 odd deliveries but such incidences were few and far between. xxxx

[The Outsider]

Ramprakash was one of the few English batsmen to have done well against Australia in the 90s. If he was part of the current English setup ie. the one over the last 3-5 years, he might have ended up with a pretty successful career.

[Donny]

Ramps just hit his 6th. century for the season and his 93rd. in first class cricket.

[Donny]

He scored 142. For the season: 10 matches. 16 innings. 1156 runs @ 88.92