Ramprakash set to announce retirement

Mark Ramprakash, the Surrey batsman, is expected to announce his retirement from professional cricket on Thursday at the age of 42. It will bring the curtain down on a 25-year career during which he scaled domestic run-scoring heights that are unlikely to be matched.

However, in 2011 he averaged 33.33 from 13 County Championship matches and this season the signs had been that time was finally catching up with Ramprakash. He was dropped from Championship cricket by Surrey for the first time after a lean start to the summer where he made 62 runs in eight innings - including just the third pair of his career against Worcestershire - and was left to play second XI and club cricket to try and regain form. He was recalled for the match against Sussex, at Horsham, but made just 8 and 37.

Ramprakash will end his career with 114 first-class hundreds and 35,659 runs at 53.14, along with 13,273 runs in one-day cricket. He made his debut for Middlesex in 1987 before moving south of the river in 2001 where he continued to be prolific for Surrey. In two seasons, 2006 and 2007, he passed 2000 runs having also achieved it in 1995 for Middlesex.

Ramprakash's international career ended in 2002 following the tour of New Zealand although his name occasionally cropped up when England's batting had problems, such as the end of the 2009 Ashes. In 52 Tests he averaged an underwhelming 27.32 with just two hundreds - against West Indies in Barbados in 1998 and against Australia at The Oval in 2001 - having made his debut against a strong West Indies attack in 1991.