Mark RamprakashMark Ramprakash is to retire from cricket after an extraordinary career that has spanned a quarter of a century.
When the Hertfordshire-born cricketer made his first-class debut 25 years ago Margaret Thatcher was still Prime Minister and Madonna was at the top of the charts with 'La Isla Bonita'.
Back in April 1987, he made his debut against a team featuring Archie Sidebottom, a man old enough to have a son, Ryan, who is himself on the verge of retirement after a glittering career at both first class and Test level.
We decided to take a look back at the career of the man they call 'Bloodaxe' by breaking down some of the extraordinary numbers he has clocked up along the way.
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35,659 — Total number of first-class runs scored by Ramprakash to date in 461 appearances.
1987 — The year of Ramprakash's debut for Middlesex, when still a sixth-form student.
301 n.o. - Ramprakash's highest score in first-class cricket, set in 2006. It came in an outstanding season during which he had already struck a 292.
Ramprakash in front of the Oval scoreboard after his 301 not out
154 — His top score in Test matches, scored against the West Indies in Barbados in 1998, who boasted an attack featuring Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop.
114 — The total number of centuries scored in Ramprakash's first-class career (he also boasts an additional 17 in limited-overs domestic cricket). It puts him 16th on the all-time list, level with Sir Viv Richards.
103.54 — Ramprakash's first-class Surrey average in the 2006 season, when he scored 2278 runs and became the first Englishman to pass the 2000-run landmark in county cricket since 1995, when a man by the name of Mark Ramprakash also achieved the feat. For good measure, he scored 2026 runs at 101.30 the following summer.
56 — The innings that brought Ramprakash to wider attention in 1988. Then just 18 years old, Ramprakash came in at 25-4 as Middlesex chased 162 to win the NatWest Trophy final, and steered his county to victory with a man-of-the-match performance.
53.14 — Ramprakash's career first-class average after 764 innings.
52 — Tests played for England, over an 11-year span between 1991 and 2002.
42 — The batsman's current age.
27.32 — Ramprakash's Test average, during a career in which he flattered to deceive.
25 — Only 25 men in the history of the game have scored one hundred first-class centuries — Ramprakash is the latest of them, and given the way the game has changed in recent times, almost certainly the last.
Ramprakash on his way to glory in Strictly Come Dancing10.70 — Ramprakash's average this season — a rare series of failures after years of heavy scoring.
3 — Nicknames. 'Ramps' — for obvious reasons. 'Bloodaxe' — for his fiery temper, particularly in the early part of his career. And 'The Hips' — for his dancing.
2 — Counties Ramprakash has represented. The right-hander began at Middlesex in 1987 as a 17-year-old, then switched to rivals Surrey in 2001.
1 — Victories in celebrity dance competitions. Ramprakash spent the winter break of 2006 winning the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, following in the footsteps of fellow England cricketer Darren Gough the previous year.