Ramprakash and Batty Rule the Roost
Published 20 August 2008
An incredible unbeaten partnership of 216 between Mark Ramprakash and Jonathan Batty has put Surrey in a very strong position on the first day of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship match against Sussex at the Brit Oval.
Coming together with the score on just 40, the veteran pair batted superbly together, accumulating runs throughout the day and leaving their side 256/2 when bad light called a premature halt to the day’s play.
After Stewart Walters had been dismissed early for a duck and Scott Newman followed him shortly afterwards for just 18, some fans at the Brit Oval might have feared that Surrey would struggle to post a competitive total.
This was firmly not the case though, with Ramprakash and Batty using every ounce of their collective experience to first frustrate and then dominate a young Sussex side with powerful shots all around the wicket.
When they weren’t sending the ball for one of their collective 27 boundaries, the pair were constantly rotating the strike, always looking for singles and even after over four hours at the crease were still pushing through for hard run twos.
During Ramprakash’s innings, which his now his third consecutive hundred, he passed one of the oldest records in the Surrey annals. At 113 not out, the batsman had scored 424 consecutive runs without being dismissed, breaking a record that is thought to have previously been held by Surrey great Andy Ducat, who died at the wicket at Lord’s on July 23 1942.
Ramprakash has now scored 444 runs without being out in his last three innings (112 not out against Yorkshire; 200 not out against Somerset and his current knock of 133 not out).
With the day also seeing the announcement that Jonathan Batty has been granted a benefit year in 2009, the score of 96 not out for Surrey’s popular wicket keeper is also a superb performance.
The Sussex bowlers struggled to find any rhythm, with only Jason Lewry managing to take any wickets. Although Robin Martin-Jenkins and Ollie Rayner stayed economical, Michael Thornely, ex Surrey youngster Rory Hamilton-Brown and Michael Yardy never looked threatening at any point.
Surrey will be hoping that poor weather stays away tomorrow, enabling them to build on their strong position and secure all four bonus points.
As ever, ball by ball commentary will be available all day at www.surreycricket.com courtesy of BBC London and highlights will be available shortly after the end of the day’s play at Surrey TV.
Add to Del.icio.us Digg it share on Facebook (What is this?)
