Date-stamped : 16 Jan96 - 02:16 Electronic Telegraph Monday 15 January 1996 The solitary traveller seeking direction Scyld Berry watches Mark Ramprakash fail to put an end to his di- sabling slump IRONY SET it up so nicely for Mark Ramprakash at The Wanderers. Mike Atherton, who made 185 invincibly in his previous innings on this ground, was out for nought on Saturday in the 3rd One-Day International. The time was right for Ramprakash, who had made four and nought in the Test, to score a hundred. What he wanted, as he went out to bat, was enough luck to make a start: he had been pleading for some early breaks, when the ball flies off the edge for runs. It had not been his fault that his start had been ruined in Bloemfontein on Thursday, when called by his friend Graham Thorpe and run out. On Friday morning it was back to introspection: clamped inside earphones at the airport, avoiding eye contact, silence on the plane and nobody daring to offer comfort. For him this tour has been "sport" only in the sense of boys wantonly killing flies. England have tried all they knew, letting him room with Thorpe or with Dominic Cork to buoy him up. Alec Stewart, vice-captain and oldest batsman, has talked with him for long hours. But in the words of Mike Atherton, who has confessed himself at a loss: "When you`re out there, you`re on your own." He got off the mark all right, glancing to fine leg, and that luck came when he inside-edged Allan Donald for four. A few sin- gles and an edgy glance for two took him to 10, his first score of double figures since Nov 25. When the drinks came, for once they did not taste bitter. Refreshed, relieved, he followed up with a sumptuous cover drive at a wide ball from Brian McMillan. At a stroke, this one prince- ly hit, you can see why so much time and patience have gone into his grooming. It would be a relief, too, to report that with this one stroke Ramprakash was free, that the chains fell away and he went on to a match-winning innings, a World Cup place and a permanent posi- tion in the England side. Instead he missed a dab at an off-side ball from Richard Snell, and bent his head to berate himself so fiercely that he almost shook with fury. Next over he was caught behind off a similar steer. The pressure on young batsmen is greatest in England, from the media and from the number of other batsmen All had begun so promisingly: the only son, introduced to cricket in leafy Pinner by his father, a top statistician and sometime editor of Social Trends; that NatWest final fifty such as school- boys dream about, when he was a schoolboy; that debut series against the West Indies in 1991, when only Graham Gooch and Robin Smith made big runs, but he held on like no-one else could. He then made nought against Sri Lanka, was dropped in New Zealand, and has been in and out ever since. He feels alone, but he is not. Matthew Maynard was the same, al- most rigid with apprehension at the thought that his future ex- istence was about to be determined, Neil Fairbrother, too, in Tests, and Graeme Hick for his first couple of years. The pres- sure on young batsmen is greatest in England, from the media and from the number of other batsmen challenging for that Test place. Everyone agrees that he has everything except the ingredient which strings it all together. Perhaps that is because he has been too intent on his objective, that of becoming the best bats- man in England, at the expense of focusing on his journey. Atherton does not think about being the best batsman we have. He simply is so, and concentrates on the next ball. Ramprakash has spent his tour worrying more than doing. Like all of us, but more so, if only he could know now what he will know in 10 years` time. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http: www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)