Surrey's Mark Ramprakash out for months with football injury

Mark Ramprakash is the latest cricketer to suffer a serious injury playing football, and the Surrey veteran may miss the start of next season as a result. Ramprakash, 41, damaged his knee ligaments playing at Charterhouse School last weekend for a team assembled by his former England and Surrey team-mate Martin Bicknell, who now teaches there. "It wasn't much of a challenge but I must have twisted and now it's agony," he told the Woking News and Mail. "It's going to be about 10 days on crutches and then into the pool, bike work and on to the next stage. "This is a common football injury and these days it takes up to five or six months for players to reach full speed. With cricket it's different and running between wickets will not be so much a problem as the twisting and turning taking twos and threes. "But I think that will be it now, the boots will be going in the bin and it's out with the golf clubs." Chris Adams, Surrey's cricket manager who was also playing in the game, said: "It was a very innocuous incident and it's just unfortunate that it's come at this stage in Mark's career. "We hope he will be ready for the start of the season and knowing him, nothing would surprise me. It is a blow but obviously we have to plan to be without him possibly in the opening weeks, if it comes to that, and it offers an opportunity for other players to show what they can do. "Mark won't be there forever, so someone has an opportunity to prove he can step up."