“Come on, Ramps, you know you want to.” There is probably only one bowler in the country who can sledge Mark Ramprakash and not worry about the outcome: Shane Warne.

Some time during the LV County Championship match between Surrey and Hampshire, which starts at the Brit Oval today, Ramprakash will face Warne for the first time since Australia rampaged through England in 2001, winning the series 4-1. It may bring back painful memories for Ramprakash, which even 2,211 championship runs at an average of 105.28 last season cannot guard against.

Some county captains say it is a waste of breath sledging Ramprakash, who protects himself in a bubble of intense concentration; others say sledging encourages him. But Warne does not share that sentiment. “He’s obviously been in fantastic form and is a danger man for Surrey, but I think you can get under his skin very easily,” Warne said yesterday. “I think it’s been proven on the big stage and in international cricket on more than one occasion.

“If he is a calm customer in domestic matches, that’s fine, but I’m sure we [Hampshire] will find a way to get him out. As far as getting under his skin is concerned, I’ve done that on more than one occasion.”

The Oval staged the last Test of the summer in 2001 and though Ramprakash led a fight-back for England with 133 in the first innings, it was not enough to avoid the follow-on. Ramprakash, on 17, edged an aborted cut off Warne to Matthew Hayden at second slip to become his 406th Test victim.

But it was the Trent Bridge Test in which Warne was in his element and Ramprakash vilified. “Come on, Ramps, you know you want to,” Warne said, continually teasing Ramprakash, who was torn between coming down the wicket and needing to bat out the second day. Red mist rising, Ramprakash did come. He danced down, missed and was stumped by Adam Gilchrist. England collapsed, went 3-0 down in the series and the Ashes were gone.

Ramprakash has done a lot more dancing a lot more successfully since then, and often other counties give him the silent treatment. “Ramps likes to operate at his own pace, in his own bubble,” David Fulton, the former Kent captain, said. “The only time I have seen him rattled against us was when Mohammad Sami [the Pakistan fast bowler] came round the wicket and got in his face and he [Ramprakash] chopped one on hooking at him.”

“He’s been around for donkey’s years and we just think it [sledging] will make him more determined,” David Hemp, the Glamorgan captain who was on the receiving end of some of Ramprakash’s runs last season, said. Warne may disagree.