Ramprakash turns on the style

Fans at Canterbury were treated to the delight of seeing Surrey captain Mark Ramprakash clock up his sixth LV County Championship century of the season in his side’s rain-affected match against Kent.

The former England batsman turned 39 yesterday but showed no signs of rustiness as he strode to his 127 off 176 balls to help his side reach 220 for five by the end of play.

Ramprakash looked at ease throughout most of his innings, hitting 10 fours and four sixes during his time at the crease.

His innings only came to an end when James Tredwell caught him off the bowling of Yasir Arafat with 186 on the board.

Arafat also claimed the wickets of Chris Murtagh (nine) and James Benning (two) to finish with figures of 3-42.

Robbie Joseph took the home side’s first wicket of the day when he bowled Scott Newman for a duck before the sides went off for rain after seven overs.

One of Ramprakash’s quiet partners at the crease, Jonathan Batty, helped himself to 13 before being caught by Darren Stevens off the bowling of Amjad Khan.

The Division Two clash between Middlesex and Gloucestershire at Lord’s ended in a draw.

The game, which has little bearing on the championship table, ended after Gloucestershire declared on 161 for four.

Mark Ramprakash made the most of some relatively dry conditions today to score runs for Surrey

William Porterfield made his fifth championship half-century of the season to help his side to seven bonus points.

Steven Finn took two wickets for the home side, who take 10 bonus points from the game.

Rain caused havoc across the remainder of the matches scheduled for today, with three matches abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Nottinghamshire’s top-of-the-table clash against Somerset at Trent Bridge was a complete washout for the second successive day.

The abandoned match means Notts now have a four-point lead over Somerset in the table but the west country side, who face title hopefuls Durham next week, have one game in hand over their rivals.

Yorkshire’s bid to maintain their Division One status was also hampered by the poor weather.

The Tykes’ clash against Sussex at Scarborough was abandoned after heavy overnight rain ruled out the possibility of play.

Yorkshire picked up five bonus points from the match, but that will do little to appease Darren Gough’s side who are now running out of time to save themselves from relegation.

Durham’s title aspirations were also hit by the relentless rain that fell at Chester-le-Street where they were due to take on Lancashire.

Will Smith and Dale Benkenstein had looked in good nick during the first two days of the match, notching up unbeaten scores of 144 and 61 respectively to leave the home side on 280 for three.

Rain prevented any play in the final two days however, leaving Durham to take six bonus points from the match while Lancashire’s bid to stay in the top division was helped by the five bonus points they picked up.