Ramprakash raid subdues Sussex

Middlesex 415-2 v Sussex

A month is a long time in cricket. In those four weeks the enigma that is Mark Ramprakash has scored more than 500 runs, having bagged a pair at Lord's in the second Test against the West Indies, which resulted in his being dropped like a red hot coal by England.

That glow has since become white hot, with a double century against Surrey, a hundred against Gloucestershire and yesterday another hundred, this time at the expense of Sussex.

Ramprakash has had an unfortunate England career, with 11 of his 17 Tests having been played against the West Indies, and always under a degree of pressure. But in his present form he could sink a battleship by weight of runs alone, and the Sussex ship is listing heavily after the shell- shocked crew toiled all day under a broadside from Ramprakash and, latterly, Mike Gatting.

These two big guns boomed shots all around the ground - some 80 per cent of Ramprakash's 30 boundaries were hit through the off side - as they piled up an unbroken 222 for the third wicket.

Ramprakash had his share of luck, being dropped twice during his near five-hour innings, once by Keith Newell when he top-edged a sweep on 15. The same fielder missed Ramprakash 80 runs later, this time off his own bowling, but it could not detract from the class of the 25-year-old, who finished the day 15 runs short of the third double-century of his career.

Gatting, too, is moving menacingly into gear. He punched, cut and drove anything remotely short or over-pitched and he looks set to reach a second successive Championship hundred after hitting 13 of the day's 58 boundaries on his way to 92.