Mark Ramprakash: What I've Learnt This Week

The county season is a busy one and there are times when you look at the clouds and hope. Some players sniff out rain. Martin Bicknell always knows the Oval forecast right down to what direction any rain is coming from, what time it will arrive, how heavy it will be.

When I first joined Middlesex there was a big cards school which would start up when it rained with quite a lot of money going down. Invariably John Emburey or Gatt would win. Now with all the public schoolboys in the Middlesex team, they play Scrabble.

Some players read, or at least look at the pictures. That's changed too. It used to be Razzle and Club, now its FHM and Maxim. Myself, I've just finished The Da Vinci Code, now I'm reading another Dan Brown, Angels and Demons. In the past I've read a lot of John Grisham and Robert Ludlam. I remember Michael Atherton reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography, that looked like heavy going.

The young lads are also into these PlayStation 2s. I'm not sure what they are. I never really moved on from Space Invaders. There'll also be a rush for the physio's bed to lie down. Some players can just drop off. Phil Tufnell was incredible at catnapping but Saqlain Mushtaq runs him very close. They just switch off. I wish I could do it.

When you have time on your hands you can get up to some mischief. At Lord's Paul Weekes, Owais Shah and myself used to play tennis-ball cricket in a long corridor at the back of the home dressing room. One day I pulled a bouncer into the fire alarm. They had to evacuate the pavilion. I thought we'd be in big trouble but we managed to get out of it.

Down at Gloucester about nine years ago Angus Fraser and a few of the boys were playing basketball in their new indoor centre. Angus injured himself and when the rain stopped he had to bowl off four steps. We were in a position to win and he had to bowl through the pain in fear of a right volley from Don Bennett, the coach. Luckily he was still very accurate and did the business.

Of course, we always want to play every minute of every game. But I might even take the golf clubs with me to away games this season. Just in case.

2. Sharp practice makes a lot of sense

It has been an odd week this week. We haven't played any cricket at all, and it's nothing to do with the weather, it's the fixture list. It's unusual to get so little cricket. We played 10 days of the first 11, now we are playing five out of 20.

But just because we are not in the middle doesn't mean we aren't working. We do practise. It takes me an hour to get in to the Oval so when I do I want to do something worthwhile. A seven-minute net on a dodgy surface isn't enough so I generally try and do a bit extra.

The team train at 10am so I might ask the coach to come in at nine and give me a couple of buckets of balls in the indoor school from the tennis ball machine. That shoots them out at 100mph and it's good for working on your reactions and against the short ball.

It is important to do a bit extra. Justin Langer set a good example when he was at Middlesex. He was always first in the nets and last out. I think players work harder overseas in general. Because of the structure of Australian club cricket you usually only bat once every two weeks, so when they practise they do so with 100 per cent intensity. Here it is very easy to get blasé because we play so many matches.

I tend to practise quite a lot though I recognise that would not be right for everyone. The main thing is for people to feel right when they walk out to the middle. Ally Brown may just get me to throw six balls to him. He'll lash them into the boards and decide he's ready. He's got a great eye and natural confidence so that works for him. But while a coach has to recognise individuals are different as a general viewpoint I believe young players could put in a lot more time on practice, especially when you consider the time snooker, golf or tennis players put into their game.

3. Attitude can earn you a fighting chance

But it's not all work, obviously. On Thursday my new status as an Independent columnist earned me a call-up for a media tournament at Highbury. As a Gooner it was fantastic to be involved though I had played there once before - in a South of England under-15 XI trial. The changing rooms were just as I remembered them, but the pitch wasn't. All those corporate days, and the recent rain, are taking their toll. That - and perhaps a lack of talent - meant the Indy team didn't pass as well as Arsène Wenger's, but we only went out on penalties.

I've always enjoyed football. I've got an FA Level Two coaching badge. I play for the Arsenal pro-celebrity XI and I was on Watford's books as a schoolboy.

They signed me after watching me play for Middlesex Schools. Midway through the centre-forward I was marking pulled me back as I went for the ball. I turned round and punched him in the chest. Fortunately the ref didn't see it, but he heard about it and told me at half-time I was lucky not to have been sent off. Someone who did see it was the Watford scout and at the end of the game he said: "listen mate, I didn't enjoy the game but that is the attitude we want, come along."

4. Boys never lose their fascination with new toys

I also went down to Gray Nicolls in Sussex. It's their 150th anniversary, though I've only been using their bats for 27 years having got my first one when I was nine, a GN single scoop for £40. I bought it because I'd seen Mike Brearley, Bob Woolmer and Greg Chappell using one.

Then at 16 I was sponsored by them. A batmaker called John Gasson made me a couple of 2lb, 10oz Powerspots. When I went down there last year he was still there. This week I took Azhar Mahmood down with me. We were like two schoolboys with new toys.

It's fantastic to go down there. We see the whole process starting with the huge cleft of wood he cuts down. He shapes the handles, gets the binding on, then you see it sanded down. On go the stickers. Then I start fiddling.

I still use the same weight bats, they are Predators now, but I must be their fussiest customer. I have to get the feel of it just right in my hands. So I spend ages playing with the handle, putting bits of tape under it, trying to make it fit and feel right.

I get through about two or three bats a season, though I always have four with me. I try and look after them though I remember in 1990 I thought my bats seemed a bit heavy. So I put them in the drying room at Lord's. People would leave sweaty gear there to dry out. I left them there for three weeks. They felt much lighter so I played with them at Uxbridge. They both snapped in half.

5. Time's winged chariot is hurrying near

I passed 27,000 runs during the game against Worcestershire last week but before I could start feeling pleased with myself Ian Gould, who was umpiring, glanced over at Graeme Hick, who was fielding, and said to me: "Not bad, only another 11,000 to go to catch up with Hicky". It shows what a player he's been, year-in, year-out. During a rain break I had a chat with Graeme. Our careers have been similar in some respects. We made Test debuts at the same time, and now we are both coming to the end of ours careers unsure what we will do after cricket.

Delivery Of The Week

It's not often that I'll claim the credit in this category I promise you, but it has to be my beautifully placed pass from the right wing, on the overlap, to Matt Denver, who promptly put 'The Independent' two-up against the Photographers XI at Highbury this week.

Shot Of The Week

Gus Fraser has made Kevin Pietersen's astonishing six yesterday his shot of the day, so I'll plump for his straight six off Murali on Thursday. Dancing down the wicket and then predicting the spin exactly takes fantastic skill.