Mark Ramprakash sure Sam Robson is ready for biggest test

 
Concentration: Sam Robson, in action for Middlesex, is capable of building long innings, according to coach Mark Ramprakash
Tom Collomosse10 June 2014

Sam Robson has the temperament and technique to make an immediate impact on Test cricket, according to his batting coach Mark Ramprakash.

Ramprakash, who played 52 Tests for England, works with the Australian-born Robson for Middlesex and has long been convinced that the 24-year-old has the ingredients needed to prosper for England.

Robson looks certain to make his Test debut at Lord’s on Thursday. He has been pencilled in as captain Alastair Cook’s opening partner in the first instalment of the two-match Investec Series against Sri Lanka and Ramprakash has no doubts that Robson has what it takes.

“He’ll be ready,” Ramprakash told Standard Sport. “He is a very humble, level-headed guy and he has taken things in his stride. It has been an incredible 12 months for him but you wouldn’t know it.

“Whether he gets a low score or a hundred, his personality remains the same. You see a player who has a very simple, orthodox set-up and he does the basic things very well. He plays straight, he knows where his off stump is, he picks length well and gets forward and back.

“He never gets to a point in his innings where he thinks, ‘I’ll just enjoy myself’. If the ball is in his area, he will look to hit it, otherwise he is happy to bat time. Once he gets himself in, you had better watch out, because he wants to stay there for a while.

“He wants to learn and develop his game and during practice he is not afraid to be challenged. You add up all these factors and you can understand why he has scored so heavily in recent times.”

Robson was born in Paddington, a suburb of Sydney, and grew up in Australia but his mother is from Nottinghamshire and he has nailed his colours to England’s mast.

Robson qualified for England last summer under residency rules and had a superb winter with the Lions, scoring heavily on tours of Australia and Sri Lanka. With a new regime in place, headed by coach Peter Moores and national selector James Whitaker, it seemed only a matter of time before Robson was called up, and it was no surprise to see him named in the first Test squad of the Cook-Moores era.

If Robson maintains his rate of progress, there is every chance he will be lining up against some of his former peers next summer, when Australia arrive in England to defend the Ashes.

Ramprakash, who also worked with Robson on the Lions tours, continued: “I was really pleased that the Lions went to both Australia and Sri Lanka last winter because each country poses very different questions for batsmen.

“There was pace and bounce in Australia and then it was mainly spin-orientated in Sri Lanka but Sam took it all in his stride.

“He thought carefully about what he wanted to play. He would take information from others but then he would decide how to use it and understand how it would work for his game.”

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara is keen to play county cricket when his international career has ended. These two Tests at Lord’s and Headingley are likely to be the last in this country for the 36-year-old, who is one of the greats of the modern game.

But English supporters have probably not seen the last of Sangakkara, who has already had stints with Warwickshire and Durham.

He told Wisden Extra: “A couple of seasons in England would be fantastic. I really enjoyed my time in 2007 with Warwickshire, and Durham have been great. I like the feel of county dressing-rooms. There is a huge amount of ability in them, and a huge amount of hunger. It’s something I would like to experience again when I have finished with Sri Lanka.”

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