End-of-season jamboree
Dinner jackets were rented, wing-tip collars were starched and bow-ties clipped on but who was that spoiling the moment by drinking cans of lager with dinner at the end of season gala?
Were it one miscreant it might be possible to sniff haughtily over one’s new world chardonnay but as it was the entire Yorkshire team one couldn’t – and probably shouldn’t – make a scene.
A saw fewer popping champagne corks than it did after that Ashes summer – and England’s star players left earlier too - but the annual jamboree was still a fitting end to a long season.
Players, officials, sponsors and assorted hangers-on came together as one to celebrate the end of another season, dole out awards and wonder what exactly two acrobats were doing dangling from bits of cloth in the middle of one of the world’s most famous auditoriums.
Sponsors flashed their credit cards in bidding way too much in the charity auction, while players celebrated and whispered in corners about the length and worth of their new contract offers.
Feeling like guests at somebody else’s office party, journalists like this one lurked in corners eager for titbits and competed in star-spotting.
There are no points for spotting Andrew Flintoff on the way to the loo – anyone can do that. The key is to recognise and name a county pro who has never had any reason to be famous at and point in his career. Extra marks if he retired more than five years ago.
As he collected an ECB special award, David English, doyen of the celebrity cricket club the , reminisced about his visit to this very venue 40 years ago, when he was manager of blues power combo .
And for the NatWest Player of the Year 2006 after his 2,278 runs – at an average of 103.54 – during Surrey’s promotion campaign.
Few would dispute the destination of the prize, voted for by the players themselves, although Mushtaq Ahmed presented a convincing case with 102 wickets – 24 more than anyone else – for the county champions Sussex.
It isn’t fashionable these days to suggest anyone over the age of 25 for an England call-up but to those first-class figures this year add Ramprakash’s Test record against Australia - 933 runs at 42.40 – and wonder whether it may have been worth breaking with the new order for England’s most important tour in a generation.
The England players diving off for early nights was a hint of the next event on the agenda for many of those gathered here, even if they won’t play a direct part.
Gloucestershire veteran and PCA chairman Martyn Ball summed it up as he said grace with no reference to the Book of Common Prayer.
God bless the wine and food we eat
To retain the Ashes would be an amazing feat
England’s passion is second to none
So watch out Warnie here we come
I’ll break open a can of lager to that.
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I would have though Mushtaq Ahmed's performance in Division 1 would prevail oer Ramprakash's, albeit excellent achievement, in Division 2
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Can you provide more details about what the other awards were given for and why they were given to who they were?
The 'Instinct Award' particularly sounds very interesting, what on earth did Ian Bell have to do to win this one?
Thanks
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Despite Middlesex's rubbish season, I see they picked up an award though. Was it not some kind of fair play trophey? Yes! Some silverware, what a great season!
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If Ramprakash were to be in the Ashes squad, who would you leave out?
We have plenty of good young batsmen at the moment, all performing at Test level. The real quetsion is which one out of Cook, Collingwood and Bell is going to be dropped when Flintoff comes back into the side?
Personally feal Mushtaq was more deserving of the award as his performances have come at a higher (slightly) level in more important games. Lets face it, Sussex wouldn't have won the Championship without him.
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Chris Ney: There's a list of the winners here:
Not sure quite what the qualification for Bell's Sheer Instinct Award was - either the ton on his recall or the three centuries in as many matches. From memory, though, I think the winners are usually Slazenger-sponsored players so that narrows the field a little for him.
Stu: That was exactly Jamie Dalrymple's sentiment when he picked up the award. Compere David Gower relayed his muttered "At least we've won something" to the audience, much to the all-rounder's chagrin.
Chris: You're right, of course, although there was a school of thought before the announcement that England would take an extra batsman and one less pace bowler.
I could see the argument that you have to build for the future were it for any series other than this one. It's a biggie so take the best people you have. I wonder how much of a mention people like Ramps and John Crawley got at the selection meeting.
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I can't believe that they gave the new Geoffrey Boycott (Alistair Cook) a award. They talk about making the game of cricket more exciting by bringing in such competitions as twenty20 but then players like this are allowed to come into the game and bore seven shades out of people.
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Lest we forget...
Mark Ramprakhash is 37 and has played 52 Tests, averaging 28. As all the England top 5 at present are under 30 and average over 40, the Australians would have been delighted to see one of them dropped to make room for Ramprakhash, however good his returns this season.
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I would rather have Ramps face up to Warne in Sydney compared to Paul Collingwood, Cook & Bell.
Against Australia last summer Bell looked real weak, sure he's been good of late, but against who? A young Sri Lanka side without Jayasuriya and Atapattu in the unique early season weather and a Pakistan team without Shoaib, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. It would have been real interesting to see a Bell vs Mushtaq Ahmed battle, Kaneria is clearly an inferior spinner, on current form at least. Bell is close to becoming a new Cullinan for Mr Warne.
Cook is really wet behind the ears, I like his guts and commitment. Collingwood is only of late a true first teamer.
England are very inexperienced in the batting lineup. Vaughan is out, leaving Trescothick the only experienced batter, (remember too he has his 'condition' to deal with), Flintoff aside. Strauss has only played 2 years of Test cricket, Pietersen 1.
It is also not as if Ramps will be lining up with Alec Stewart, Mike Atherton and the Andy Caddick ........ he will partner a fresh England team, I'd suggest that probably only Hoggard, Trescothick, Giles & Flintoff have played with Ramps in a Test side.
What finer incentive is there to leave international cricket on a high ...... the 5 matches in Australia assuming that Ramps averages 40/45 would have at least increased his respect in the media and would prove the English team selection is not ageist ..... Ramps will always be an enigma, maybe he was denied 1 last opportunity to prove himself ....... I hope he gets a commentary job out there at least!!
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Time and time again sussex players are overlooked. Even though we are county champions again, and have a remarkable one day side (anyone remember when sussex languished at the bottom on the 2nd division), its players are overlooked again.
Ramps? Give me a break!
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Test
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What a terrible shame they didn't seat Martin Gough next to Geraint Jones.
Or to make Mr Gough's night, next to Chris Read.
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Sorry, David. I don't understand.
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Martin
Simply emphasising that any chat with Jones might have a certain frisson after your contstantly raising the issue of whether he should be dropped over the last year or so; however much credibility your argument might have had, it lost much of its impact - and impartiality - in its constant repetitiveness, and tended to leave the suggestion of a personal, anti-Jones agenda .
And Read simply so you could express you, erm, admiration at his brilliance (which to many of us remains to be proven).
Just my observations from reading your "take" on the "Jones or Read" situation.
Tell me, do you journalists get to interact with players you support/oppose and if so do you tend to spot any negative/positive feedback?
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David,
I'm afraid I spoke to neither keeper at the dinner. I'm not sure if Jones was there at all.
Players certainly read what is written about them - Alec Stewart admitted to being a big fan of the ±«Óãtv Sport website, although mainly for news on Chelsea - but I have never spoken to a player specifically about anything I've written in the past.
I've always tried to present both sides of the Jones/Read debate so I'm sorry if you think there has been a bias. My personal opinion is not that one is better than than the other - I would rather leave that to the experts. I grew to believe, though, that the justification for using Jones on the basis of his run-scoring could not be backed by his run-scoring record.
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David,
I'm afraid I spoke to neither keeper at the dinner. I'm not sure if Jones was there at all.
Players certainly read what is written about them - Alec Stewart admitted to being a big fan of the ±«Óãtv Sport website, although mainly for news on Chelsea - but I have never spoken to a player specifically about anything I've written in the past.
I've always tried to present both sides of the Jones/Read debate so I'm sorry if you think there has been a bias. My personal opinion is not that one is better than than the other - I would rather leave that to the experts. I grew to believe, though, that the justification for using Jones on the basis of his run-scoring could not be backed by his run-scoring record.
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It seems strange to me that Ramprakash can win this award when he is facing second division bowling attacks on the best wicket in the country. Plus another batsmans paradise at Whitgift School. Apparently this rates as a better preformance than Mushtaq taking over 100 first division wickets and John Crawley scoring over 1700 runs against first division bowling attacks at the Rose Bowl. I don't think so, but maybe I'm biased following Ramprakash's gamesmanship and behaviour at the Rose Bowl earlier in the season. He has certainly gone down in my estimation.
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Tilan, you say bell faced an inferior sri lanka bowling attack, when actually he didnt play in that test series, he only came in during the pakistan test series, hiting 3 hundreds. Also, you say that it weould have been different had be been up against akhtar, naved and asif. Well, he did face them in the odi series, hitting 227 runs at an average of 56.75, including 2 fifties. I suggest you get your facts straight before slagging him off.
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great creacket place S.Asia' newes is not too enough. please show
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Mark Ramprakash should definitely be in the Ashes party... since I was a kid keeping Len Hutton's average every day of the season..the
English selectors have been a 'bunch of fuddy duddies. Mark could come in very handy in Australia... and a terrific steadying influence for
the newer your guys. Dont they want to win again??
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excellent article.
Modest and funny , but direct .
More please !!
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Yes, we want to win in Australia this winter and so Mark Ramprakhash will NOT be playing.
The days when players who just did not quite make the grade, however old, would get recall after recall have long gone. Even Ramprakhash's relative success against Australia STILL gives him a lower average than any of England's top 5. The selectors are right to keep faith with a young side that will only get better.
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the ashses are coming ha ra ha ra
people will whatch it from near to far
ponting and flintoff go face to face
well retain the ashes like last years grace
sixes and fours will go around
england will do it like last years round
we will cheer for england to win the games
well see the auzzies again in shame
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Mark Ramprakash deserved the Reg Hayter Cup. He was never treated very fairly by the selectors and had to cut his teeth in Test cricket against the best of those West Indies fast bowlers. He could probably do a great job for England now -- especially against the Aussies, as his average against them suggests.
And how nice to see a Cup named after Reg Hayter, my mentor and inspiration in sporting journalism. Reg was of the great enthusiasts who taught a whole generation of sports writers how to go about their trade in a civilised and honest manner.
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Mark Ramprakhash is one of those enigmas. It is true that he has his best Test record against Australia IN Australia (6 Tests, 5x50, average 49.3), but his overall batting record is inferior to Geraint Jones (average 27.3, a century every 46 innings, a 50 every 8 innings).
Like Graeme Hick (who's Test record was considerably better than Ramprakhash), one can only wonder what he might have achieved in the present set-up.
However, the discussion about him is a throw-back to the old England failure culture of the '80s and '90s. Last season Kevin Pietersen was thrown in against the Australians and many people thought that it was an error, but if you are going to be a success, you have to do it against the best.
Against the Windies in 1991 Ramprakhash played all 5 Tests. He batted 9 times in a series that England drew 2-2 (i.e. not in a losing side that was being blown away). Every one of his scores was between 13 and 29 and in 7 of the 9 innings he passed 20. In other words, he did the hard work of getting a start and then got out every time.
His next three Tests were two England wins and a rain-wrecked draw against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In none of these three Tests did he trouble the scorers. Yes: 3 ducks, with other batsman hammering centuries. Not exactly convincing form...
He took 10 Tests (yes, TEN) to get his first score higher than 29 and didn't reach 30 again until his 15th Test!
After 20 Tests he was averaging 17.2.
The only wonder is that the selectors gave him so many chances.
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