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 2005 when surrey were relegated after a poor season. however, in their final championship game, against middlesex, who were also in danger of relegation themselves, ramprakash gained consolation by hitting 252, sharing a surrey record for a fifth-wicket partnership of 318 with azhar mahmood as surrey made 686 for five declared, and duly won by an innings and 39 runs.