touring party for the 1994–95 Ashes series, but was chosen as vice-captain for the England A tour to India. However, an injury to Graeme Hick meant that he was flown out to play in the final Ashes Test, scoring a useful 72 in the final test at Perth, and ironically, in spite of his initial non-selection, finishing top of the England batting averages for the series. He was in and out of the England team over the next few years, never assured of selection but still scoring very heavily for Middlesex. A breakthrough of sorts came in the 1997–98 Test series against the West Indies when he scored 154 in the fifth Test in Barbados. It was his first Test century and it earned him regular selection for the England team for the next eighteen months. But he was omitted from the 1999 tour of South Africa and thereafter was in and out of the side again. While he scored a number of fifties against various teams at this time (notably Australia), he only added one more century to his tally – 133 against Australia at The Oval in the 2001 Ashes series. He was not picked again after England's tour of New Zealand in March 2002. During the build-up to the final Ashes Test of 2009, with the series poised at 1–1, Ramprakash, at that point in excellent form for Surrey, was widely touted in the press as a possible choice to improve the struggling England middle order, with a number of pundits promoting his selection. However, Jonathan Trott was selected instead, going on to score a Test century on debut. At Surrey In 2001, thoroughly disillusioned with the organisation at Middlesex, who were by then playing second division-level cricket, he joined London rivals Surrey. His form improved markedly as a result. In the 2003 season, he became the first player to have scored a century against all 18 county teams, and completed the set with a century against his former county Middlesex. Only Carl Hooper and Chris Adams have since achieved this feat. Ramprakash became the first man to captain both Middlesex and Surrey when he stood in for the injured Mark Butcher at the start of the 2005 English cricket season. Butcher did not recover until the middle of August, and Ramprakash remained captain for most of the season. Ramprakash's move to Surrey seemed to backfire in