Ramprakash - Strictly Me: My Life Under the Spotlight

Strictly Me: My Life Under the Spotlight — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Strictly Me: My Life Under the Spotlight" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...68

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Ramprakash played for Middlesex between 1987 and 2000, and for England between 1991 and 2002. He currently plays for Surrey and scored his 100th century against Yorkshire in August 2008. He has two daughters.

STRICTLY ME

My Life Under the Spotlight

Mark Ramprakash

With Mark Baldwin

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licenced or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781845969332

Version 1.0

www.mainstreampublishing.com

This edition, 2010

Copyright Mark Ramprakash and Mark Baldwin, 2009

All rights reserved

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

First published in Great Britain in 2009 by

MAINSTREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY

(EDINBURGH) LTD

7 Albany Street

Edinburgh EH1 3UG

ISBN 9781845965945

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any other means without permission

in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer

who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with

a review written for insertion in a magazine,

newspaper or broadcast

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

To Mum, Dad and my sister Zara, and to my wife Van

and our daughters Cara and Anya, for their constant love and support

throughout this journey that is ongoing

FOREWORD BY DARREN GOUGH

A s a cricketer, Mark Ramprakash is among the top three English players whom I came up against regularly in my own career. In recent years you could add Kevin Pietersen to that shortlist, as the best England batsman of the current era, but for most of my time it was Graeme Hick, Alec Stewart and Ramps.

That is how highly I rate him. And although he underachieved in the early part of his own England career, I think Ramps is very unfortunate not to have played more than his 52 Tests; certainly, his best years were his mid-30s after his last Test cap was won and during that time he should definitely have been selected again for England.

To me, it is inconceivable, for example, that he did not win selection for both of Englands last two Ashes tours of Australia. Ramps averaged more than 40 against the great Australia sides of the 1990s and 2001, but he was ignored in 200203 (he should have been called up when Graham Thorpe withdrew, let alone in the initial squad) and also for the 200607 tour.

With Michael Vaughan out of that latter series through injury, Ramps would have been the perfect experienced batsman to have called upon in his place. As it was, we got our selection very wrong for most of the trip and ended up losing 50.

I consider it a very great privilege that I was playing for Yorkshire against Surrey in the match in which, in 2008, he completed his hundredth first-class hundred. In fact, after he had cut away a ball from David Wainwright, our left-arm spinner, for the boundary that took him to that great landmark, I was the first person to shake his hand. I was so pleased for him.

We had never looked like getting him out in that second innings, and before the match I had reminded him that he got his maiden first-class century against Yorkshire at Headingley and so it was a foregone conclusion that he would get his hundredth there as well! I think that helped to relax him, actually.

Ramps and I have played against each other for all of my own first-class career (he started before me, and is still going!) and for quite a lot of that time with one another for England. We have toured often together and, in fact, first came across each other when we were on England Under-19 duty.

Today, of course, we are both better known for our exploits on Strictly Come Dancing. Its amazing, and really quite comical. Between us, we have played in more than 100 Tests for England, I have taken getting on for 500 international wickets and Ramps has scored more than a hundred hundreds but both of us are more widely known for dancing than we are for cricket!

Then again, when you look at the viewing figures for Strictly 12 million, or something and then how many people watch England play cricket on Sky, which is an awful lot less, I suppose it is not that remarkable.

Ramps rang me for advice as to whether he should accept the invitation to go on Strictly in 2006 and I told him that if I could win it, then he would have no problems. He was always more into music than I was he would always have music to listen to before going in to bat and he was definitely more of a natural dancer! On tour, whenever we found ourselves in a club, it would always be Ramps rather than me who would be keen on getting onto the dance floor.

I think, when he first began on Strictly, that he was quite nervous about following another cricketer who had won it, but as soon as I saw him that first week I knew he had the ability to make it. It was fantastic for Ramps and for English cricket, to be honest when he did follow me to the Strictly Come Dancing title.

So, who is the better dancer? I couldnt possibly say. What I will say is, I beat him on that Strictly Christmas Special, didnt I? Actually, in all seriousness, I would suggest that Im better at ballroom and hes better at Latin!

When we meet up now, of course we have a lot of banter with each other about our dancing. And during both the 2007 and 2008 cricket seasons, I think our dancing achievements actually spiced things up even more when we came up against each other on the field. We found we were even more competitive with each other and, over the years, I have really enjoyed our on-field battles.

Ramps is a great guy, and a great character. So many people dont really know him because he is a quiet person who keeps himself to himself. People think hes aloof but when you get to know him, as I have, he will open up a little bit more, and he is a loyal, dependable friend to have.

I am very pleased to be able to call Ramps a friend, as well as a fellow England cricketer and fellow dancer! I hope this book reveals more of his personality to the wider public and also serves as a true monument to the great achievements of one of the most talented players English cricket has ever seen.

* Darren Gough played 58 Tests for England, taking 229 wickets at 28.39. He also won 158 ODI caps, taking another 234 wickets at 26.29.

FOREWORD BY KAREN HARDY

M eeting Mark Ramprakash... well, where do I start? I remember opening the door for our first meeting and being bowled over (pardon the pun) by this shy but handsome man standing in front of me. Result, I thought, until I found out that he was a cricketer. How could a cricketer win for a second year? He was also possibly one of the least known celebrities on the show, but worse than that... he didnt speak!

Next page

1234567...68

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Strictly Me: My Life Under the Spotlight»

Look at similar books to Strictly Me: My Life Under the Spotlight. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

James Chase

Strictly For Cash

Paul Thomas

Ross Taylor: Black & White

Pasha Kovalev

Pasha--My Story: The Autobiography of TVs Hottest Dance Star

David Battersby

In the Shadow of Packer: England’s Winter Tour of Pakistan and New Zealand 1977/78

Stead

KP

Menon Suresh

Pataudi: nawab of cricket

Marcus Trescothick

Coming back to me: the autobiography

Hobbs Jack

Jack Hobbs: Englands greatest cricketer

Forsyth

Strictly Bruce stories of my life

Sir Alastair Cook

5 Sept

Sacre-Dallerup

Strictly Inspirational : How I Learnt to Dream, Act, Believe and Succeed

Boria Majumdar

Playing It My Way: My Autobiography

Discussion, reviews of the book Strictly Me: My Life Under the Spotlight and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.