Mark Ramprakash calls it a day

The 42-year-old, whose career started with Middlesex in 1987, made the decision after being dropped from the Surrey team earlier this season. "I'd like to formally announce my retirement from first-class cricket. I'd like to express how lucky I feel to have had such a long career," said Ramprakash at a news conference at The Oval, Surrey's headquarters.

Ramprakash announces his retirement in London yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Ramprakash, a prolific run scorer at first-class level, was unable to transfer his domestic form to the international stage with just two hundreds in 52 Tests.

"I've been asked about regrets in my England career many times, but you do the best you can," he said.

"I couldn't have trained any harder and I did the best I could at that time. I went through many ups and downs, but did have some highlights," Ramprakash added.

He scored 35,659 runs in 461 first-class matches since his county debut and more than 13,000 in limited-overs cricket. He managed just two Test hundreds, with a best of 154 against the West Indies in Bridgetown in 1998 and 133 against Australia at The Oval in 2001. - u00a0