NFL Top Five and Bottom Five

Welcome once again dear reader.  Today I wish to share with you the thoughts of myself and Mainzey with regards who are, as we prepare for the 2012 season to start, the top and bottom five teams.  It should be noted that these discussions took place ONE DAY BEFORE the season kicked off with the Dallas Cowboys thumping the New York Giants.  This disclaimer has to be made, in order to prevent one of us being embarrased (not me...)

MAINZEY - Hey Dutts, With Liverpool being so crap and to celebrate the great news that the NFL is on Sky and Redzone is back (best invention ever) I thought lets to a power rankings blog conversation. As no really cares about the middle numbers I was thinking top 5 and a bottom 5. It may mean our teams aren't mentioned but you never know you may have had a drink.

For me number 1 is easy. You lose the Superbowl and get better on offence and defence and you have Bellichek and Brady. No brainer,  Pats number 1. I think they may even win a Super Bowl without taping other teams this year (hasn't happened yet) 

Who is your number 1?

DUTTON - It's bad news when I have a disagreement with your opening line. Liverpool haven't been crap...they've been garbage.

I've not checked the Internet today, so I assume I've missed the Patriots signing a proper O line?

The best team in the NFL as we stand is the team with the best QB. It's a quarterback league, as we are frequently told, and that's why the Aaron Rodgers led Green Bay Packers are my number 1.

MAINZEY - Got a point on the O Line but not sure u can make that comment and then choose the Packers

That being said I will go Packers at 2. 15-1 last year and straight out of the playoffs would hurt. Surely their defence won't be as bad again actually I don't think it is possible.

DUTTON - True, the Packers O line isn't the best but ARod can make the plays with his feet.

To return the favour, I'll give you the Pats at 2. Brady is still Brady, they may now have a pass rush that eluded them in 2011, and the 0-2 since Spygate must annoy Palpatine...sorry, Bellichek.

MAINZEY - So for number 3 I am going to go back in time. 

It's 2006, I say at 3 I am going to pick the most clutch QB in the NFL, who is also the best Manning and also has the most Superbowl rings in the Manning household and you say that's easy you are picking the Colts. 

Well back to today and it's still easy. But I not picking Peyton and the Colts, I am picking Eli and the New York Giants.

DUTTON - Ha! Not even mentioned in my top five!

Sticking with my "quarterback league" theme, possibly the ultimate field general, especially as he is essentially the head coach too, I go with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Add the "the world is against us" mentality, and you have a potent offensive force.

MAINZEY - We have seriously diverged now! I am not sure the Saints are the best team in their league and I like to think coaches are important and they don't have 1. 

At 4 the team that should have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl last year. The Houston Texans, solid all over the field and if they stay healthy very dangerous, also helps their division could be one of the worst ever assembled.

DUTTON - At last agreement!

The only real issue I have with the Texans is the damage they inflicted themselves upon the right side of their offensive line. Eric Winston is one of the best RTs in football, and they let him walk away...

The AFC South is the best example of why relegation should be introduced into the NFL.

MAINZEY - Yeah let's promote Alabama and USC and relegate Jacksonville!!!!

Number 5 is the 49ers great defence and added a few weapons on offence if Smith doesn't turn it over they will be very dangerous.

DUTTON - Agreed, this team is returning 11 starters on defence. So that's the same defence that dominated in 2011. Few more weapons, but I would be shocked if Smith is still the starter by the end of 2012. This team is being built for Kapernick.

OK, that's the cream of the crop sorted. How about the Crap of the Crop? For me, the worst team in football is Miami. The offseason has been one disaster after another, they have no talent on that roster. This, and maybe the next couple of years, will be painful for Dolphins fans.

MAINZEY - I hear what you are saying on the Dolphins but the worst team in football is the Browns. It's a close call but they also start a rookie QB (although he is about the same age as us) and I think they have less talent. Add to the fact they play Pittsburgh, Baltimore and the Bengals and they will have the worst record all said and done.

DUTTON - We can actually call Brandon Weedon "young man".

 
I take the Browns as 31st, as it were. Potentially they have some pieces on offence, with Weedon being protected by the best LT in football, Trent Richardson should be a stud (when fit) and second year wideout Greg Little should show improvement. The 2011 Browns D wasn't the worst, but they still will be picking early in the next draft.

MAINZEY - Interesting thing, think of the best left tackles in the game and then what teams they play for and you will notice something. It's the most overrated position in sports.

Dolphins at 31 for me they stink plain and simple.

DUTTON - Worst team in the best conference now, Minnesota. Banged up AP, aging defense (and that includes you Jared Allen), dump of a stadium. Nothing going for them.

MAINZEY - I think the Vikings are bad but to be 3 picks in and no AFC South team chosen did not seem right to me. I pick the Jags here. Their best player has been a holdout and their QB looked scared of people trying to hit him last year. 

 
The sooner this team is the LA Cougars the better (copyright on the name)

DUTTON - I think my good friend Adam is rather hoping the Rams will have the LA prefix. (name drop alert, Adam is Adam Rank, NFL.com analyst and has on occasion conversed with me via Twitter.  A good egg.)

 
I give you Jacksonville now. Again not the worst defence, but they'll be playing from behind an awful lot this year and the scaredy cat hippy QB will need to man up against the inevitable pass rush.

MAINZEY - Did I tell you I got a retweet from Staines FC (in your face!!!)

 
Vikings for me now not sure on Ponder or the age and fitness of their star players. In that division could be a serious struggle.

DUTTON - I've just had a chat with YCCC allrounder Richard Pyrah...

I think there is a leap to the 5th worst, and that is the Colts. Their schedule means they could be 2-1, and while they will not get to the playoffs (far from it...) they will be better than most think.

MAINZEY - And I move from the Ipad to the laptop (don't you just love technology)

I think I am going to agree here Colts are still built to have a lead and I don't think they will have one enough

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So there you have it, two idiots look at the best and worst of the NFL.  I daresay Mainzey and I will speak again on this subject, and I have confidence that our answers will change!

The King is Dead

May 19th, 2004.  England captain (and personal hero to your humble author) Michael Vaughan has been ruled out of the opening test of the summer against New Zealand.  The captaincy will pass to Marcus Trescothick, but what of Vaughan's spot alongside him opening the batting?

"Simple" says I to my good friend Mainzey.  "Move Butcher up to open, Nasser to 3 and bring in Collingwood."

My decision seemed logical at the time.  I was, remained and retain membership of the Paul Collingwood fan club.  He had played Test cricket, albeit briefly, and Butcher had opened before.  Apparently though (as I was to discover years later) Butcher was not keen to surrender his spot at 3, and so the selectors plucked Andrew Strauss to make his test debut.  Some thought (and still think) that I bemoaned the pick, and didn't rate Strauss.  Not true.  And his debut ton, coupled with a wonderful second innings knock that ended when Hussain ran him out (the last victim of Nassers career) before Hussain rallied the side to victory (both innings I watched after calling in sick for work at the Odeon.  Sorry, but its been 8 years, sue me) thrilled me.

Today, Wednesday August 29th 2012, Strauss announced his decision to stand down as England captain and retire from all forms of cricket after a test series defeat by South Africa (if this sounds familiar, its because both Nasser and Vaughan resigned in the same circumstances.  Bloody Saffers....)  He played exactly 100 Tests, 50 of them as captain, and scored 7037 runs at an average of just over 40, with 21 centuries.  He also won 46 of the tests he played in, winning the first eight.

I cannot say that I have been a constant supporter of Strauss.  In 2007, his annoying habit of driving at full balls and nicking to slip (or keeper occasionally, just to mix things up) infuriated me, and I was not upset to see him left out of a tour to Sri Lanka.  His return for the next series away in New Zealand confused me, as did the call to bat him at 3.  But he won me round with brilliant centuries in Napier and in a great run chase at Old Trafford in 2008.  When events opened up the England captaincy on a permanent basis in 2009, I was very happy to see Strauss take up a role he seemed to have been born to perform.

I have also been a constant reminder to people that after his first day ton at Lords v the Aussies in 2009, he didn't reach three figures in a Test match again until the first test over 16 months later, and then after not until May 2012.  He continued to chip in, but frequently seemed to get out when set, especially when a bowler came round the wicket to him.

However, in spite of these, I will miss him.  England under Strauss were ruthlessly efficient, dominant in the field and constantly looking like 20 wickets could be taken with as little as 60 deliveries.  England did not lose a series after his debut series UNTIL they had reached the summit of Test cricket, some three years later.  England won with a regularity that never became boring.  I will miss the late cut, the pull over midwicket, even the cover drive which seemed to desert him after 2009 will be missed.  England will also miss him in in the slips.  His trusty mitts snaffled 121 catches in his 100 Tests, probably none better than the wonderful one handed grab at Trent Bridge to get rid of Adam Gilchrist in 2005.

Alastair Cook has been groomed to step in to the breach ever since he skippered the "mini tour" to Bangladesh in 2010.  He has played 83 tests, has only one fewer test century than Strauss and also has 73 catches.  He will not REPLACE Strauss, he will succeed him.  He will be a different type of captain, and it will be interesting to see if full time Test captaincy can FINALLY do something that Shane Warne, loss of form and even batting 13 hours has failed to do.  Make Cook sweat.

Fare thee well Andrew.  Enjoy the next stage of your life, but please remember.  I never hated you, I just thought it was Collingwood's time.  It was not then, and I'm glad that it was yours.

Defending The Crown

England have named their squad for the World T20 tournament, to be played in Sri Lanka in September, a competition they enter as holders after winning the last tournament in the West Indies in 2010.  There are a few notable changes from that 2010 team, as the captain, the leading bowler, and of course the Man of the Tournament are no longer part of the England setup for one reason or another.  It will be tough for England to defend their title, but they are still the number one ranked side in T20, and will rightly enter the tournament with a high level of confidence.

The lineup for Englands last T20 game v the Windies was Kieswetter, Hales, Bopara, Morgan, Buttler, Bairstow, Patel, Swann, Broad (c), Dernbach, Finn.

All of the above 11 have been named, and are joined by Bresnan, Wright, Briggs and Lumb.  Bresnan Wright and Lumb were key members of the 2010 squad.  Lumb may have to back up Kieswetter and Hales, who smashed an England T20 record score of 99 v the West Indies in the last match.  Briggs is something of a T20 specialist, with a career economy rate below 7 an over and a wicket every 16 balls.  He is a specialist slow bowler, and not much of a spinner (much like Samit Patel, another slow left arm option).  Luke Wright has been in and around the England setup since 2007, and has been hampered by having never found a specialist role (jack of all, master of....).

The key men for England are :
Eoin Morgan, one of the most destructive limited overs batsmen in the world
Graeme Swann, a wily campaigner who found Sri Lankan pitches to his liking in the recent test series (and his comeback International tour back in 2007)
Steve Finn, the fastest bowler in the squad with a proven track record of extracting life from even the flattest subcontinental wickets in the last year, and
Stuart Broad, entering an international tournament as captain for the first time, he must keep his temper and set an example for his mostly young squad (only two over 30s!)

Can England win? Yes, of course they can.  They are a well drilled, well set squad.  Will they win? I'm an England cricket fan, I'm not counting my chickens.

And Now...The AFC

DUTTON - So, the AFC..

MAINZEY - The second best conference in terms of quality and Mannings (did I really just say that?), the AFC is like the Australian Olympic team compared the the GB team that is the NFC.

DUTTON - Yorkshire won more medals than Australia.  There are, to my mind, NO outstanding Superbowl candidates in the AFC, but like the NFC lets start in the East.

MAINZEY - Ah, Mullins Division (NY Jets), and boy is he going to have fun this year with Timmy (God's personal representative in the NFL).  My dads team should also have a blast with no QB until the boy Tannehill is ready, the Bills may surprise some people with their defence and a few skill players, but lets be serious.  The Patriots win this division by a mile.  Best QB in Brady, best coach in Bellichek...pretty easy one for me this.

DUTTON - Hard to argue, though I think the Patriots could use help at tight end.

The other three teams have passable defences, the Bills having spent big to improve. But the Dolphins will have a year of growing pains, and Tebow will be the starting QB by week five. Easy Patriots win.

The Powerhouse division would be the North, with three playoff teams in 2011. I have a feeling that the most talented team in this quartet is actually Cincinatti.

MAINZEY - Still sticking with the Jimmy Graham over Gronk joke I see

AFC North the one thing I do know is the Cleveland will be last. As for the others I think the best team are the Steelers they have Big Ben with Weapons and still have a defence. I am torn between the Ravens and the Bengals although I hope the Bengals win 10 games.

DUTTON - Sticking my neck out (never a task I'm afraid to do) in saying the Bengals finish above the Ravens in 2012.

The West is probably the most intriguing in the entire NFL. The Chargers are the perennial contenders, the Chiefs have a top defence and a few offensive weapons returning, Denver replaced a gimmick QB with some guy called Manning, and the Raiders begin a truly new era as they go into their first season post Al Davis. My money is on Kansas.

MAINZEY - Cincy and Kansas bloody hell Neil have you been drinking??

The Chargers may have Norv and they also have talent but I know who I am going with. The same person I have picked to win the AFC South since 2000. I am on the Peyton and Broncos bandwagon and I am sticking with it!!!

DUTTON - I don't think the Bengals will win their division, just finish above Baltimore!

I think Denver will push, but everything Kansas have done this offseason has impressed me.

MAINZEY - I may have missed what Kansas did, where they the team who signed Peyton Manning?

DUTTON - No, they have their own injury blighted QB, and they did sign another Peyton (the oft injured and 2011 Madden Curse victim Peyton Hillis).

MAINZEY - Ok just checking I hadn't missed something

DUTTON - Idiot.

So, potentially the worst division in pro football, the AFC North. Urgh...by all means, you can lead off on this one.

MAINZEY - AFC North is surely the poo division of the league this year. 

That being said this is a no brainer for me Texans all the way the OLine may not be as good but with Foster and Schaub throwing to Johnson and Daniels they should have more than enough

DUTTON - I'll be prepared to controversial here, I think Johnsons days of "elite" are done. Can't stay healthy, Texans will ground and pound to lighten his load. Their receiving corps is a worry, but they are still the cream of this crap.  Titans will compete, but Colts and Jags will stink again.

So Pats, Steelers, Texans and a disagreement in the West. Wild cards?

MAINZEY - May not be elite but better than the rest in that division. 

Yeah my wildcards are going to be Ravens and Bengals.  You?

DUTTON - I'm going with the Bengals...and the Denver Broncos.

So there you have it, all eight divisions broken down into idiot sized chunks.  How will our selections pan out? You get to find out in under a month.

2 Idiots Take On The NFC

In a concept stolen from noted American sports blogger and podcast host Bill Simmons, my friend Mainzey and I discuss the prospects for the NFC in the coming American Football season.  Take a look, we may get sued before we can do another one.


Dutton - I think we should begin with the NFC Division that matters most to the pair of us, and coincidentally the home of the reigning Super Bowl champions, the NFC East.


No team has retained the East crown since the Eagles won 4 straight, ending with the 2004 title. I do not see this trend coming to an end in 2012.  The Giants have not added quality to their roster, and in fact have several gaping holes where studs have departed. There is also the issue of Eli being the hunted rather than the hunter, his previous season as a Champion was not a triumph, for him or his team.


Mainzey - That Eagles team must have won a couple of superbowls with that record. I know you hate him but he is the best manning know with the best team resume. The team with the most talent has the star and the stupid owner


Dutton - The "Dallas has the most talent" argument is a myth, based on the same foundations as the Tooth Fairy. They have a serviceable quarterback, a good (but ageing) tight end and one great pass rusher. That's it.


The Eagles changed tack in 2012, by focussing on players they already had rather than high profile free agents. Vick is going to enjoy his first off season as the Eagles starting QB, he has two good receivers on the outside, a serviceable slot receiver, a top tight end and, potentially, the most complete back in the NFL.


Mainzey - Are we saying Ware is past it???


Can't believe I am defending my arch enemy

This is your best team since last years team which worked out well.... Seriously if you keep Vick upright you should win 10 games easily

But enough with these teams lets talk about the team of the future....

Dutton - Your "future" may remain much the same as your present, for the time being. Adding Robert Griffin III will make the Redskins a touch more dynamic, but the quality of help afforded to him is still not top tier. The Skins strength still lies in a more than adequate defence, with Kerrigan and Orakpo the studs.

Mainzey - We will win 7 I think. We were close in a lot of games I think RG3 helps us win a couple more

So are we saying Eagles?

Dutton - I would say so. Big play offence, solid offensive line, great strength in depth on the defensive line. I would very surprised if the 2011 total of 8 wins was not surpassed.

Mainzey - So we both pick the Eagles which may make Jerry Jones blow up the team which makes me smile.

So NFC North. I think this could be the deepest. Chicago still can play D and now Jay has someone to throw to I think they are serious this year

Dutton - Ah the NFC North, the land of the lost cornerback....

To compete in this division, you need to sling the ball around. There are three top arm QBs, we don't know what Ponder is yet. Chicago do indeed have that stud receiver they have been seeking for so long, but my worries with the Bears is an abysmal offensive line and an ageing defence. Briggs and Urlacher are not getting younger. They will be better than last year, but I don't expect them to come out on top in this division.

Mainzey - Yeah age is a concern but it is for me and you too

If we are talking about slinging the ball about then we have to talk about the best 1-2 in the league Stafford to MEGATRON!! The issue is can they keep the team out of jail and off the operating table. If they can they are a fantasy owners dream, if they can't I think Schwartz may have questions to answers

Dutton - Stafford to Johnson may well be the Manning to Wayne of this generation. The Lions are loaded on offence, built to use their front seven to generate pressure on defence. Like most teams in this division, their secondary is suspect (I'm being polite.)

Possibly owning the worst secondary, we come to the Green Bay Packers. While Stafford has his go-to-guy in Megatron, who is Aaron Rodgers favourite receiver?

The Open One.

Mainzey - Packers need to get to the QB on defence. If they can I think they are the best team in the conference. I have 2 out of here me thinks Green Bay and Chicago

Also did you know golf on TV cricket on the iPad is the future?

Dutton - Odd comment from someone who lives in the past...

Agreed. Packers to win, but I see a Wildcard for the Bears. Detroit will drop off from last season, but not disastrously so.  I'm not even talking about the Vikings.

How about the NFC West, for so long a joke division but not any more?

Mainzey - Only when it comes to my sports teams...but Yeah the Vikings without AP could have a long season.

This has the makings of a serious division for a change. St Louis intrigue me under Jeff Fisher, really need a big season out of Bradford but the defence should be solid

Dutton - This division is one of underrated (and talented) defences. San Francisco showed last year that they had a serious front seven. Seattle and Arizona showed flashes of improvement. The Rams have added talent to a talent starved roster, but don't expect them to climb away from the basement too far

Mainzey - The Seahawks are interesting to me. Will they progress or fall back a little? Not sure the offence can keep up with the defence especially with Lynch probably missing some games.

Dutton - So we have the 49ers winning this division then?

Mainzey - They were the best team in the division and I think they have gotten better so I can't see it being any other way

Dutton - Agreed.

Now the real head scratcher in the NFC, the South.  For so long the preserve of the Saints, can they put Bountygate and the loss of their head coach behind them and retain their crown?

Mainzey - I suppose the answer to this is do they still have Drew Brees? As the answer is yes I think they still have 10 plus wins on them although they hopefully lose game 1 to RG3

Dutton - I think that's quite enough trips into fantasy land for you.

Yes, Brees is still the straw that stirs the drink in this team. I see the Bucs improving, though they could hardly regress, and I expect last years RG3 (Cam Newton) to continue to show signs of class. For me, I see Atlanta falling away. Not a Matty Ryan believer.

Mainzey - I like the signings by Tampa just not sure they have overtaken New Orleans. If I am honest give me Cam and the original Steve Smith 

Dutton - Yep, can't argue.

So we have Eagles, Packers, 49ers and Saints topping their divisions.  I have wildcards for the Bears and...New York Giants.

Mainzey - I am with you on the Bears and I think I will throw a curve and go for..... Carolina Panthers

Dutton - You on board the Cam Newton train I see?

Great discussion Paul. We must do this again soon, as we discuss the ugly sister that is the AFC.

Mainzey - There is always one team who sneak up on us and I just have a feeling Cam can do it. 

Yeah join us soon for the AFC version!!

End Of ANOTHER Era

Since I began writing this blog, I have been able to write about the end of Rahul Dravids Test career, the end of Peyton Manning's time as an Indianapolis Colt, and the calling of time on the career of one of country crickets hungriest run getters in Mark Ramprakash.  It is with a degree of sadness that I find myself writing once again about the end of a great era, as the news filters through of the end of the international (and probably cricketing) career of South African glove man Mark Boucher.

STANDING OUT, STANDING UP


In terms of sheer numbers, Boucher stands apart from all other wicket keepers.  In Test cricket alone, his trusty mitts gobbled up an astonishing 532 catches in his 147 tests, and he backed these up with 23 stumpings (no mean feat, considering the lack of a quality spinner for virtually his entire Test career).  Both the number of catches and the number of matches played are records for a Test wicket keeper.

He was also a nuggety lower order batsman, capable of rescuing his side (his first test century came as a nightwatchman), establishing a dominant position with some lusty late innings hitting or saving his side with the same grim determination.  In terms of runs, he is the second highest run getter for all test match wicket keepers, his 5515 at an average of 30.30 (5 centuries, 23 fifties) a mere 55 runs behind that great freak of nature Adam Gilchrist (though Gilly got his 5570 in fewer matches at a higher average and with more centuries).  He stands up well against other prominent keeper/batsmen of the modern era, with the same number of centuries as Knott, Dhoni and Dujon, a higher average than those great Aussie glove man Healy and Marsh, and more not outs than any other keeper.

He finishes his career after a freak incident in a tour match at Taunton, warming up for his 4th and last tour of England.  An Imran Tahir googly hit the stumps, sending a bail up into the white of Boucher's left eye.  A sad end to a golden career, and one that saw him win, lose and draw a series in England.  His 1st series was in 1998, and he was to play a leading role in the match best remembered for the epic duel between Mike Atherton and Alan Donald at Trent Bridge.  Early in England's chase of 247, an Alan Donald short ball slammed into the glove of Atherton, and flew through to Boucher, who began the celebrations of a prized wicket.  Astonishingly still to this day, the umpire declined to advise Athers that his innings had ended.  Donald was incensed.  So began a spell of fast bowling rarely seen since the days of Bodyline.  Round the wicket Donald kept coming at Atherton, shorter and quicker.  The test match rested on this duel.  In a rare respite, Atherton watched from the non strikers end as Donald induced a nick from Nasser Hussain.  The ball flew through to Boucher...who dropped it.  Donald screamed, the muscles in his neck looking like they were ready to pop.  The spell was broken, Donald was done.  At the end of the over, prior to his taking up his fielding position at fine leg, Donald made a special effort to console his young teammate, a sporting gesture every bit as powerful as Flintoff and Lee's chat at Edgbaston seven years later.  England, famously, hung on to win by 8 wickets, and Atherton (ever the scamp) gifted Donald the glove, with his signature barely covering the red ball mark.

Apparently, Boucher retires on 999 international dismissals (998 of which are as a wicket keeper).The two mentioned above would have taken him to the awesome tally of 1000.  But they didn't.  Such is life.  Farewell Mark, maybe after this series we can take time to dwell on how truly great you are.  One thing is for sure, I'm happy you are not playing, but I wish you'd played again.

Prolific, Unfulfilled, Finished

December 29th 1998.  Australia need 175 runs to go 3-0 up in the Ashes series against the Old Enemy, and seem to be well on their way to doing so.  After both openers had been dismissed with only 41 runs on the board, Justin Langer and Mark Waugh have forged a partnership that seems to have taken the sting out of the England attack.  The 105th delivery faced by the obdurate Langer is bowled by Alan Mullally, and is short.  Right in the slot for Langer's pull shot, which he plays with power and authority.  All eyes turn to the boundary, where the ball must surely be heading.  But the ball is not there.  The ball is instead in the hands of the square leg fielder, who incredibly reversed course and dived back to his right to take a wonderful catch.  The wicket transforms the match, as the Aussies collapse to a 12 run defeat.

For all of his 35,659 runs, his 114 first class centuries, his 261 first class catches, it is this moment that I will always remember when I think of the name Mark Ramprakash.

Ramps retired from first class cricket on Thursday July 5th, after 25 years at the highest level.  His 2012 season had not been a success, and he had found himself out of the Surrey Championship XI.  A conversation had taken place between Ramps and the Surrey management regarding his "future", which seemed to a way of hastening the end of one of the most prolific domestic run scoring careers of the modern age.

Ramp's appetite for runs against county attacks was insatiable.  In 2006, his twentieth season on the county circuit, he averaged over 100 and scored over 2000.  Against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2008, he became only the 25th (and more likely than not, the last) player to register 100 first class centuries.  As impressive (and damn near incredible) these stats are, it should be noted that they took place five and seven years after the last of his 52 test matches, a spell that saw him score only two hundreds and average 27.32 against a career first class average of 53.14.

His debut test series came against the still awesome West Indies side in 1991.  He made 27 in both innings of a match best remembered for Graham Gooch's superb 154*, and in the remaining seven innings he only failed to reach twenty twice.  However, he only bettered 27 once, and then only by two runs.  The Windies would be his most frequent opponents for England, playing in 16 Tests against them.  His first, and many hoped coming of age, England hundred came in Bridgetown in 1998, a test match he scored 64* against the same opponents.  These would prove to be the only two times he would pass 50 against them.

Perhaps hinting at an aptitude for the big occasion, his best England days came against the Australians.  He averaged 42.40 against England's oldest foes, with one century (his last, at the Oval in 2001) and six 50s.  His average IN Australia jumped further, just a tick under 50, and five of his 50s were on Australian soil.  However,  his average against all other opponents ranged from 31.80 (versus India) to 7.75 (his record in three matches against Pakistan).

Many "experts" use the excuse that Ramprakash was not helped by the England regime at the time, showing little sympathy for this prodigious talent and quickly cutting him aside after every "failure".  Indeed, he did begin his international career in an era that most who played in it would agree that individuals worried more about their personal achievements rather than the teams.  It is noticeable perhaps that his most consistent time in an England shirt came just as the powers that be began to instill a notion of "Country First" in the players, and under the captaincy of Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain.  But this argument fails to take into account that he did keep "failing", and just couldn't score the mountains of runs against national attacks that he feasted on every summer in England.  Interestingly, Ramps won 16, lost 22 and drew 14 of his 52 tests.  He averaged 22.15 in wins, 25.95 in defeat, and 38 in drawn matches.  He was never a match winner for his country, but he was more than able to help save them.  Maybe this was down to a nagging knowledge that defeat would require scapegoats, and scapegoats usually meant him.

The game will never see the likes of Ramps again, the amount of first class cricket played these days simply will not allow a player to get up to 100 centuries.  But also, with the new "Team England" mentality, a player as talented and special will never go as unappreciated by his management.  But I have a feeling this last point will offer little comfort to a man who leaves the first class cricket scene for the last time.