Ramps sings Surrey's praises

Mark Ramprakash en route to his second century of the match for Surrey © Getty Images

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The prolific Mark Ramprakash scored his 10th century of the season to severely dent Lancashire’s hopes of becoming champions and then declared his fondness for the club.

The former England batsman scored an unbeaten 130 - the 97th century of his career - on day three of the crunch LV County Championship Division One match at Brit Oval.

He passed 2,000 runs for the season at an average of 101.30, becoming the first man to do so two years in succession in the history of the game.

Surrey eventually declared with the score on 295 for five, with Ramprakash having faced 255 balls and struck 19 fours and a six, leaving Lancashire an unlikely target of 489 for victory with 112 overs left in the match.

Ramprakash shared stands of 89 and 77 with Jon Batty (45) and Mark Butcher (47) respectively to dampen the spirits of the Lancashire attack.

And he said afterwards: “It was great to get another century and it gives us a chance of winning the game.

Ramprakash drives over cover as Lancashire's hopes fade

“I really do enjoy playing for Surrey at the Oval. It’s a very good club. I know that I don’t have a long time left in the game but I just want to go and enjoy each day when I bat.

“Being at Surrey has without doubt made me a better player, and made me more relaxed at the crease. That was probably the influence of Adam Hollioake, who instilled that into me as soon as I arrived here.

“My motivation is to continue winnings things at Surrey, although we have had a tough season this year and at one time it looked like we could be relegated, but over the last few weeks the lads have showed what good players they are.

“The character and ability of the team has shone through and I am pleased for everyone at the Club that we are still going to be in the First Division next season.”

Lancashire bowler Glen Chapple knows his side face an uphill task if they are to now become champions, given Sussex’s charge to the brink of victory against Worcestershire.

“We all believe that it is still possible to win this game,” he said.

“All we can do is go out and play tomorrow just like we have all season and maybe we might surprise a few. We all have to give serious effort if we are to win.

Glen Chapple shows his frustration at the Brit Oval

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“It’s been a frustrating couple of days as we haven’t bowled that badly, especially in the first session of the match.

“We had our chances but just didn’t take them on a good surface, although you can’t take it away from Ramps, who played magnificently. Good players are entitled to get runs on a good wicket.”

Chappell was also unsurprised that title challengers Sussex and Durham had performed so convincingly.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect anything else. I expected both teams to win as both are doing so well, but it’s up to us to perform and win our match,” he said.

“It will be amazing if we can win this and I suppose there is less pressure to win if say we had to score 250 to win.

“We will just see where we are at lunch, then at tea and go from there and we have to win the game, it’s as simple as that. We have some good players in the team.”

Play was eventually brought to a close after bad light stopped play with the score on 27 without loss, with the visitors needing a further 462 to win.