Dave Fulton assesses the weight of expectation on Mark Ramprakash as he approaches 100 hundreds.
Ramprakash left struggling in 'nervous nineties'
Mark Ramprakash is on the verge of joining cricket's elite band of batsmen who have racked up 100 hundreds but after three scores of less than thirty that final step over the line might be harder to take than many people realise.
He has stumbled on 99 before, you know. Playing for Middlesex against Kent in 1994 he had a sudden rush of blood and smashed Dean Headley to yours truly at extra cover. In the subsequent huddle Deano, a former colleague of Ramps', offered up the now immortal observation "that's the problem with Ramps: all the talent in the world he just doesn't convert enough!"
Ramprakash has been converting ever since, of course - at least he has in county cricket and especially over the last two seasons where in each he has scored over 2000 runs at an average of over a hundred, a feat never achieved before in the history of the game. Averaging over a hundred, scoring a hundred, it's what batsmen dream about. It's a batsman's magic number, a milestone, but it can be a millstone, too, because the closer you get the more the stomach starts to churn, the more the mind starts to get ahead of itself.
Ah, the mind. It's a batsman's worst enemy. The consensus within the game is that it was Ramprakash's mind that stopped him being a success at the highest level. He has all the gifts of the greatest players but there is a feeling that at times when playing for England he wanted it too much. Batting is about staying in the moment and playing each ball as well as you can. Sometimes when you're playing really well (and I'm scratching my head to remember when I might have found myself in this state) you pay scant attention to the scoreboard or the importance of the match because you're fully focussed on the ball and the contest with the bowler.
Nervous
That changes when you approach the magical three figures. They're not called the nervous nineties for nothing and there's not a batsman who's played for any length of time, who hasn't experienced the terrible fate of getting out just short of a hundred. I've seen a batsman as experienced and talented as Stuart Law, the Lancashire captain, get bowled through the gate on 99 trying to nurdle a half-volley for a single.
My former colleague at Kent, Trevor Ward, used to say "it's just three hits when you get to ninety," but I believe he holds the record for the most nineties for a Kent batsman in the modern era. It proved a useful adage for me, however, for having been dismissed on 93 and 97 in previous matches I registered my debut first-class century by dancing down the wicket to a spinner and crashing one through the covers. It was pre-meditated but I had to confront my demons.
The 90s for Ramprakash in recent times have probably been very different. Less a conscience-wrestling confessional booth, more a motorway petrol station, which he might cruise straight past or occasionally stop at in order to re-fuel for the longer journey ahead.
The hundredth hundred will be different. It's within touching distance, which can be the hardest place to reach when you want something so badly and when others expect so much.
