Surrey’s super star batsman and Strictly Come Dancing Champion, Mark Ramprakash, has spoken out about last week’s scandal in the BBC dancing show and has offered the competition’s leading dancers some advice about how to maintain the top spot.

Speaking exclusively to www.surreycricket.com, Ramprakash called upon his experiences from the BBC prime time show last year to talk about how he felt the competition is panning out this time around. A year on, how does he feel the standard of dancing compares to when he was competing?

“It seems that every year the BBC try to up the ante from the previous series in an attempt to make the standard even higher,” the Surrey man commented.

“This year the standard is extremely high with some very ambitious people, who are coping fantastically well. So far Kelly and Alesha have been the stand out performers and it is clear they have dance experience, particularly with the way they twist and lift within the routine. They are used to performing and it shows as they look very glamorous on the floor.”

“That said, there are competitors improving each week and Matt, Gethin and Leticia are really starting to put some pressure on the top two.”

It would be fair to say that although finishing up the 2006 Champion, Ramprakash did not have it all his own way, where high moments were followed by low times, particularly when a lack of votes left he and his partner Karen in the last two pairs. It is this element of the show that the right handed batsman believes to be the most gruelling.

“My advice for the top two is that it is a very long show. It was 14 weeks to the final last year and they are going to have to accept that there will be some highs and lows. It is also tough staying at the top, particularly when the people below you are constantly improving and scrambling for your position. Kelly and Brendan will have experienced a low this week having put in what was by their standard an average performance.”

It was of course Brendan and Kelly who were criticised throughout last week for their illegal manoeuvre in their American Smooth dance. Lacking in a penalty from the judges at the time, the pair cruised through to the next round, leaving two other accomplished performers to battle it out in the dance off.

“There is no doubt about the fact that the extra lift was an illegal move – you are only allowed two lifts in the American Smooth. The sadness for the competition is that a couple of days later, I heard Kenny Logan say in an interview that he was going to break the rules to make his routine look better because he felt he wouldn’t get punished for it.”

“Rules are there for a reason and the situation made a bit of a mockery of the show and I also think that Bruno has lost a bit of credibility after awarding full marks to Brendan and Kelly.”

“Of course if you look at the bigger picture, Brendan does this sort of thing each year and it helps to publicise the show. But on at the same time, it back-fired on him and Kelly this week, as their performance was well below par.”

It is now a little over two weeks since the ECB Chairman of Selectors, David Graveney, announced the winter Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka at the Brit Oval. There was a great deal of hype in the media building up to the announcement, suggesting that Ramprakash might be recalled after six years away from the international arena. How did the Surrey man react to the media hype and the possibility of selection?

“Look, I go about playing my cricket for Surrey during the summer and try to do my best. I had a decent season again this year and about three weeks before the announcement of the Test squad, I received a call from one of the selectors. He asked about my plans for the future and how long I wanted to continue to play cricket. The media got wind of the conversation and started to speculate about a possible recall for England.”

“There is no doubt that with the speculation, I started to think about a recall and when I heard that Andrew Strauss was going to be left out, I thought that I would get picked. I know that I am playing well and that my fitness results show that I am as fit as I was earlier in my career and because of this, I would have approached the cricket with a positive mindset.”

Sadly for Ramprakash, the call did not come. Was it disappointing to have done so well and not gained recognition with selection for his country?

“I said to www.surreycricket.com a few weeks ago that I would love to put the England shirt on again, but if I did not get selected then that would be ok too as I have things I can be getting on over the winter. But that said, I was still disappointed not to get the call.”

“The thing about having the winter off is that I have more time to spend with the family. We have just returned from a holiday but I will be heading out to Barbados in the middle of November for the Fred Rumsey Pro Am.”

“Throughout the winter, I will try and play some golf and watch a bit of football. I will also look to solidify plans for my Testimonial year. I have already arranged my first event, which will be held at Lord’s on 24 January at the Nursery End of the ground. I am hoping that Ricky Hatton will be speaking at the dinner. All being well, he will have returned from Las Vegas having defeated Floyd Mayweather.”

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