Ramprakash takes Liverpool Victoria award

Mark Ramprakash © Getty Images

It is 11 years since an English batsman last scored 2,000 County Championship runs in a season – his name was Mark Ramprakash and the Surrey batsman has repeated that feat this year to help his side to promotion to Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division One.

Ramprakash’s performances during crucial matches in August have seen him score 196 against promotion rivals Worcestershire and a fantastic 301 not out against Northamptonshire at The Brit Oval.

And it is that form which has earned him the prestigious Liverpool Victoria PCA Player of the Month award for August.

The fact that the award has gone to a player outside the Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division One title race between Lancashire and Sussex is testament to 36-year-old Ramprakash’s outstanding run scoring during the promotion chase.

Even the performance of Lancashire’s 33-year-old Mal Loye which saw him single-handedly defy Sussex’s bowlers to score 148 not out in the second innings of the vital top-of-the-table clash at Hove and earn his side a share of the points was not enough to grab the award from Ramprakash.

Nor was the bowling display from England new-boy Stuart Broad who had match figures of nine for 135 in his team’s match against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

Ramprakash will receive a £750 cheque from County Championship sponsors Liverpool Victoria as the fifth monthly winner of the 2006 awards.

The best performances in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship are nominated each month by a panel including county PCA representatives plus ex-England bowler Gladstone Small and England Chairman of Selectors David Graveney.