1 to go for Ramprakash

I had the pleasure of making my first visit to Hove yesterday morning to watch Mark Ramprakash make his 99th century, leaving him just one away from a hundred 100s.

I'll be interested to see how many people make it along to watch him score his hundredth 100 - there wasn't a particularly big crowd given that he was on 60 odd over night and it wasn't a working day, but locally the league season started yesterday, so players possibly didn't have the option. One man in front of me shouted "one more" as the crowd politely applauded but several people seemed completely unaware that it was Ramprakash's 99th, a few turning up just after he'd made his 100.

A little bit of pressure seemed to be created with Ramprakash on 84 and 85 off the bowling of Ollie Rayner, with Chris Adams using a slip, short-leg and silly-point to create some doubt from Ramprakash and his batting partner Mark Butcher who also looked fluent before edging behind off Rayner. But having made it to 90, Ramprakash put Rayner over mid-wicket for four and then came down the wicket to hit him straight for 4 two balls later. In Rayner's next over, a short ball allowed Ramprakash to step back and cut for 4 (see photo above), leaving Ramprakash one away from the hundred 100s landmark.

His next opportunity is versus Hampshire at the Rose Bowl but many Surrey supporters will be hoping that they get the chance to watch him make his next hundred at The Oval against Yorkshire. You can see Surrey's fixtures here.