Ramps dancing down the track

Mark Ramprakash shows off his already fancy footwork in the Twenty20 Cup © Getty Images

Mark Ramprakash is apprehensive about following in Darren Gough's waltzing footsteps when he appears in 'Strictly Come Dancing' show this winter.

Gough won the BBC series last year, with professional dancer Lilia Kopylova, and was also successful in the Christmas Special.

Now Surrey and England batsman Ramprakash will be hoping to transfer his trademark elegant batting style to the dancefloor.

"I was approached all of four weeks ago by an agent who I know," he told ecb.co.uk.

"He rang me up and asked, 'Look, do you fancy going on Strictly Come Dancing?' and I immediately said, 'No', but he said, 'Hold on, have a think about it and come back to me tomorrow'.

"So I went home and told my wife and she was quite supportive and said, 'Why not?'

"I've done cricket for 20 years and not really done much else so I thought I'd give it a go and maybe have some fun with it."

The 37-year-old has had the best season of his career, scoring 2,278 first-class runs with an average that has been consistently over 100.

He also achieved a world record when he had a run of five consecutive first-class matches in which he made 150, and was the recipient of the 2006 PCA Players' Player of the Year.

Darren Gough and partner Lilia Kopylova won the hearts of Strictly Come Dancing voters

But he still has the hunger for scoring big runs and is hoping to prolong his career past the age of 40, so he sees the competition as an ideal way to make sure his body stands up to the rigours of playing cricket.

Gough had never danced before the series last year, but the Essex fast bowler said that his fitness levels reached an all-time high after all the practise he and his Russian dancing partner had to put in for the show.

It earned him an England recall for the NatWest Series against Pakistan, but he broke down after just three matches, prompting many to say that his international career was over.

Ramprakash, however, is not hoping for a recall, despite his excellent performances for Surrey this year, but is looking for a new challenge and sees it as a chance to get himself known in the wider world.

"When you come to the twilight of your career and you are thinking about what you want to do after cricket, a show like this is just something different. You are on TV and it puts you out there a bit. It's just an experience."

So far the experience has been good for Ramprakash. He has only had six lessons with Karen Hardy, his teacher and partner for the show, but he has loved every minute.

Ramprakash tries out an unusual move ahead of the competition © Getty Images

"She is fantastic. I think I have been so lucky to have been paired with her," Ramprakash said. "She's been a former number one, a world champion. She is obviously an amazing dancer. But she has also been retired for five years and she has been teaching and coaching. She's very, very good.

"As soon as I met her she was friendly and bubbly. She made me feel relaxed, which is very important when you are going to be doing something like dancing.

"I am quite self-conscious so I need to be pretty relaxed and prepared to do all the moves. She was good in that respect.

"So far all the practice sessions have gone well and they have been fun, which is good."

Ramprakash's self-consciousness also extends to the costumes he may have to wear during the show, with bright colours and sparkles not normally part of his daily wardrobe.

"I went along to do some photos when they were going to do the publicity for the show and I took along my daughter Cara, who is nine years-old. We saw some of the outfits and she immediately went for this very bright pink shirt. I just said that wasn't happening.

"The outfits are quite fun, but they are looking to keep me fairly conservative anyway. I don't know whether that will stay the case if I progress in the competition, though," he added.

The fourth series of 'Strictly Come Dancing' starts on Saturday, October 7 on BBC One.