Freeing uninhibited teenagers in the Test arena just is not the done thing here; they have to prove themselves in county cricket first. People are saying it about Ben Hollioake now (admittedly his bowling needs some work). But shoving these precious young things through the county mangle tends to crush their natural exuberance and youthful enthusiasm. It is a bit like spanking a child when it has solved a complicated mathematical equation and telling it to go away and practise the nine times table.
At 17, Ramprakash was excused from school to make his Middlesex debut against Yorkshire in 1987, batted without a helmet against Paul Jarvis and made an eloquent 63 not out that so impressed Arnie Sidebottom he immediately exclaimed: ''That lad'll play for England.'' So he did, but not until four years later, when he had already been man of the match in the NatWest final, scored 1,500 runs in a season and was averaging close to 50. After a series of moderate achievement but clear potential against the West Indies, he has never been sure of his place, and been pulled from pillar to post to fit in with England's requirements.
A mixed-race product of the modern era, he did not conform to the social mores of county cricket (ie nights on the razzle) and was perceived as arrogant and aloof when actually his extrovert nature on the field masked introversion off it. He lacked a soulmate, someone who understood his upbringing and the pressure of being a wunderkind, and none of us talked to him enough. There was too much of the ''I'm looking after No 1'' culture in professional cricket then to help disorientated young pups, and there still is. As a modern-thinking captain, Ramprakash is determined to reform those attitudes.
So 10 long years and a few months elapsed before he really stamped his mark on the international stage with that magnificent nine-hour hundred in Barbados. He is impassioned when he describes the moment he reached three figures. ''Oh the joy, the relief of achieving something I'd waited and worked so long for. I've dreamt about it so many times and doubted whether I could ever get there. When I did I was smiling for ages thinking to myself 'Here I am in Barbados, I've made a Test century and no one can take it away from me.' It was very special.''''
The stroke that got him to the landmark, a controlled back-foot drive that kept the pursuing fielder interested all the way to the fence, symbolised his hard-won maturity. ''I've realised it's fighting qualities, not flashy shots, that are important. I used to want to play the shot of the day but now I'd rather be there at the end of the day. I've watched the way Steve Waugh hangs around, fights it out, accumulates his runs. I'm conscious that you only have to hit the ball over the rope, not through the boundary boards.''''
Waugh makes an interesting comparison, as he took 27 Tests to make his first hundred. Ramprakash reached his in only his 22nd match. It has seemed like a tortuous struggle, though, as he emerged from a period of irascibility born of exasperation (we nicknamed him ''Bloodaxe'' at Middlesex), through some tense years yo-yoing up and down the order, to a period completely out in the cold. Being recalled at the Oval last summer was the real turning point.
Yet again stating his case with a mountain of runs for Middlesex, Ramprakash vowed for the first time to bat for England as he did for his county. He made a crucial 48 in the second innings, worth double on an easier pitch. ''In the past I never felt it was really me out there batting for England. At the Oval I was determined to play my natural way, with aggressive intent, like I do for Middlesex. Impose myself a bit. I felt better about myself there.''''
The disappointments were not over. In the Caribbean he should have been an automatic selection, but Michael Atherton had other ideas and Ramprakash did not play a match for the first seven weeks. John Emburey, who has always believed, as I have, that he is technically the best player in England, kept him on the rails with constant encouragement, and when he finally got a chance in Guyana the simple words of England's psychologist Steve Bull rang loud and clear: ''Assert yourself.''''
Ramprakash has always allowed himself to be a pawn in the England team, an expendable accessory at the beck and call of captains and senior colleagues. Perhaps, I suggested, one of his downfalls was that he never put himself first. He agreed. ''Look at the No 3 position. Being filled by the most inexperienced players, me included, because no-one really wants to bat there. There's usually selfish elements in England sides, but I can't help playing for the team. Even in the last Test in Antigua I got out unnecessarily thinking of the match situation.''''
You would imagine the man who recently contributed a technically-perfect Test hundred and has just scored two centuries in a championship match would be sure of his Test place, but he is not. The quantity of players to choose from, both English cricket's strength and its weakness, creates perpetual uncertainty.
''There's constant pressure to make runs to stay in the team. Graham Thorpe had a couple of average Tests last summer and the press were soon calling for even him to be dropped. The start to this season has been tough, a bit damp, and if you're not lucky enough to get on a good wicket somewhere, that pressure can build up.'' Fortunately he found one and cashed in. The enlightenment of Middlesex's new Australian coach John Buchanan, the Arsne Wenger of cricket, has also been a boon.
Surrounded by his peers, he says at last he feels at ease in Test cricket, that what he needed all along was a run of matches. And beneath his soft, self-effacing facade there is now a glint of steel. ''I'd like to think I can stay in the side for the South African series - but it'll be hard, we'll really have to be on our mettle. Then I think I'll be ready for Australia. I think I know what their game's about now. Just some leggie and a couple of medium pacers.''
Beware, Ramps!
Mark Ramprakash factfile
Age: 28.
Education: Gayton High School (also attended by A R C Fraser) & Harrow Weald Sixth Form College.
Nickname: Ramps, also known as Bloodaxe (from his early days when he was short-tempered).
First team debut: Middlesex aged 17.
Test debut: aged 21.
Voted best U-15 schoolboy of 1985 by Cricket Society, Best Young Cricketer of 1986 & most Promising Player of the Year in 1988.
Man of the Match in Middlesex's NatWest Trophy final win on his debut in the competition.
Test record: Played 23, scoring 851 runs at an average of 22.39.
In his first 10 Tests his average was 19.43, in the second 10, 15.22 and the last three his average is 41.50.
Home Test average: 17.50.
Away Tests: 29.12.
He had the misfortune to be out for a duck in three consecutive Test innings, once v Sri Lanka and twice v Pakistan, and has since bagged ``a pair'' v West Indies.
In his 38 dismissals he has managed a full set of the regular ways of being out (b 7, ct 22, lbw 5, run out 1, c & b 2, st 1).