And there it is: Darren Gough congratulates Mark Ramprakash on reaching his 100th first-class hundred.
With a forcing cut off David Wainwright for four, Mark Ramprakash finally became the 25th man in history to score 100 first-class hundreds when he notched three figures for Surrey against Yorkshire.
The last player to achieve the milestone was Graeme Hick, in 1998, and the other 23 names include the grand figures of WG Grace, Don Bradman, Denis Compton and Wally Hammond. For all Ramprakash's remarkable form since 2006, he has struggled this season: his last hundred, the 99th of his career, came at the start of May against Sussex. Today's knock was his 11th innings since hovering on a mere 99 hundreds, during which agonising time his top-score was 48.
The wait is now over, however, as Ramprakash reached his third century of the season from 196 balls with nine fours and a six.
"When I started out I never dreamed about making that many hundreds but I'll certainly take it now," he said. "I feel honoured to join such a high calibre of names who have also achieved the feat. It's definitely something I'll cherish for the rest of my days. I'd like to dedicate this to my mum, dad, sister, wife and daughters.
"Without their love and support I could not have achieved this milestone."
Ramprakash starred in a second-wicket stand of 259 with Scott Newman and remained unbeaten on 112 as the match petered out into a dull, but far from insignificant, draw.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Ramprakash joins the 100 club
Posted by Faizan Rasool at 7:55 PM