Oval Day of Hundreds But Only Frustration for Ramprakash
There were centuries for Mark Butcher and Matt Nicholson for Surrey against Yorkshire but the wait goes on for Mark Ramprakash
There were four centuries registered here yesterday but not the one people flocked and yearned to see. Mark Butcher scored one, which was also Surrey's 100th hundred against Yorkshire.
Then Matt Nicholson hit another, from just 119 balls with 15 fours. And when Anthony McGrath dismissed Jon Batty it was his 100th championship wicket for Yorkshire. But Mark Ramprakash failed in his attempt to become the 25th and possibly the last batsman to score a century of centuries. The vigil continues.
The name Oliver James Hannon-Dalby evokes the image of a prep school teacher who managed the occasional match for Somerset during the holidays before the war. RC Robertson-Glasgow might have written one of his wonderful vignettes about him. In reality he is 18 and from Halifax and at 6ft 7in he is one of the tallest fast bowlers in the land. This is his first senior appearance for Yorkshire. He has taken 12 wickets in four matches at 19.4 for the second team this summer.
Yesterday, on a pitch which was bouncy even by Oval standards, he achieved disconcerting lift and moved the ball away from the right-hander.
Ramprakash was not his usual self. He got off the mark with an edge through the slips for four. He also survived a bellow for lbw from Tim Bresnan when he was 11 and an airy missed drive against Deon Kruis two runs later. There was another false stroke, a fine leading edge to third man when he was attempting to work Hannon-Dalby through midwicket. Then, on 29, he spliced another lifter to first slip and traipsed off in deafening anti-climax.
It was the first of three wickets to fall in the space of 20 balls and nine runs as Usman Afzaal and Ali Brown made blobs. When Batty, out of form and confidence and down the order, was well caught at slip Surrey were in some trouble at 193 for five. But Butcher and Nicholson then more than doubled the score with an unbroken stand of 203.
It was Nicholson's fourth and Butcher's 38th century so Ramprakash is not worried that they will beat him to the 100 centuries mark. Not yet.
Then Matt Nicholson hit another, from just 119 balls with 15 fours. And when Anthony McGrath dismissed Jon Batty it was his 100th championship wicket for Yorkshire. But Mark Ramprakash failed in his attempt to become the 25th and possibly the last batsman to score a century of centuries. The vigil continues.
The name Oliver James Hannon-Dalby evokes the image of a prep school teacher who managed the occasional match for Somerset during the holidays before the war. RC Robertson-Glasgow might have written one of his wonderful vignettes about him. In reality he is 18 and from Halifax and at 6ft 7in he is one of the tallest fast bowlers in the land. This is his first senior appearance for Yorkshire. He has taken 12 wickets in four matches at 19.4 for the second team this summer.
Yesterday, on a pitch which was bouncy even by Oval standards, he achieved disconcerting lift and moved the ball away from the right-hander.
Ramprakash was not his usual self. He got off the mark with an edge through the slips for four. He also survived a bellow for lbw from Tim Bresnan when he was 11 and an airy missed drive against Deon Kruis two runs later. There was another false stroke, a fine leading edge to third man when he was attempting to work Hannon-Dalby through midwicket. Then, on 29, he spliced another lifter to first slip and traipsed off in deafening anti-climax.
It was the first of three wickets to fall in the space of 20 balls and nine runs as Usman Afzaal and Ali Brown made blobs. When Batty, out of form and confidence and down the order, was well caught at slip Surrey were in some trouble at 193 for five. But Butcher and Nicholson then more than doubled the score with an unbroken stand of 203.
It was Nicholson's fourth and Butcher's 38th century so Ramprakash is not worried that they will beat him to the 100 centuries mark. Not yet.
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