Ramprakash's fire burns bright

Mark Ramprakash is on the verge of reaching 100 first-class hundreds - a remarkable feat, joining a select club of rare, brilliant batsmen. And yet, the big question remains: how and why could he not transfer his matchless talents onto the world stage? Paul Kimmage meets him for The Sunday Times, and Ramprakash is as fired-up as ever:

A profile on Cricinfo that divides his England career into five distinct phases: adhesive beginner (1991), nervous wreck capable of shining only as a stand-in (1992-97), solid achiever lacking only a top gear (1997-99), blatant scapegoat (1999-2000) and seasoned spare part (200102).

He is not impressed. “I’m not interested in what Cricinfo think of my career.”

An observation (my favourite) that during his first life he played with a mind ticking like a room full of a thousand clocks. “In all the decades, I’ve never met a young man who so much needed to succeed. He was obsessed, and it took him a long time to become merely single-minded.”

He’s had enough. “I don’t know where you are getting these quotes from,” he responds, testily.

“That was from Peter Roebuck,” I reply.

“Okay, well let me throw this back at you: why would I be interested in what Peter Roebuck has got to say about me? He has never shared a dressing room with me. I have hardly ever spoken to the man. You are giving me these quotes but I don’t know why you are expecting me to comment on them.”

“I’m interested in whether you agree with his assessment of who you were? What you were?”