When Mark Ramprakash finished 2006 with a season batting average of over a hundred, the excuses began flowing from the England camp.

“Second Division runs aren’t the same,” they said; “It doesn’t prove anything”. Ramprakash’s Surrey were then promoted to the First Division and the veteran of more than 400 first-class games shrugged of the disappointment of an England snub and proceeded to complete a second season with an average of 100-plus. The ‘Second Division runs’ excuse was wearing thin.

With Andrew Strauss’s faltering form leading to his release from the England side at the end of the 2007 season, many had high hopes that Ramprakash had finally earned his long overdue England recall.

'In the international arena, a hundred runs is a hundred runs whether it is scored by a 21-year-old, a 31-year-old or a 45-year-old'


His place was, instead, taken by Ravi Bopara, 16 years Ramprakash’s junior at only 22 years of age. Bopara’s miserable time in Sri Lanka left many shaking their heads and wondering what could have been, in the wake of heavy defeats for England, if the selectors had valued experience over youth.

If Australia’s ‘Dad’s Army’ of the 2006-07 Ashes series proved anything, it was that age doesn’t matter if a player is producing the goods. England found themselves decimated in Adelaide by 37-year-old Shane Warne, tied up in knots by 36-year-old Glenn McGrath, hit for six by 35-year-old Adam Gilchrist and batted out of games by 36-year-old Justin Langer and his partner 35-year-old Matthew Hayden. If age doesn’t matter to the world’s top nation,  maybe England should make sure that it doesn’t matter to them.

In the international arena, a hundred runs is a hundred runs whether it is scored by a 21-year-old, a 31-year-old or a 45-year-old and yet it seems that England would prefer 20 runs from a 20-year-old to a century from a man of over 35.

What is so bad about allowing a more mature player in the side? Given the number of young players taking to the field for England it would make the national side a more balanced and level one – there is always something a young batsman like Alastair Cook can learn from a veteran like Ramprakash.

Whatever England’s reasons for excluding Ramprakash, they have sorely missed a player of his calibre and reliability as their batsmen struggled for form in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

If 2008 leaves Mark Ramprakash with a third consecutive season average of over one hundred, England will surely be kicking themselves.

PS. And yes, I have seen that Strauss has put England in a strong position with a great unbeaten 173 in the Third Test in New Zealand!