THERE are certain men in the Evening Post office who splutter with outrage when they hear Mark Ramprakash is ringing me up for a chat. "Why can't I interview him?" they bleat like pathetic children who didn't get enough toys for Christmas.

You see, they only want Mark for his legendary batsman skills. I, on the other hand, am interested in the whole person. Specifically, the surprisingly swivelly-hipped dancing person. And since Mark's next appearance in Nottingham will come courtesy of the Strictly Come Dancing tour to the Arena, I win.

And it's just as well I did. Would a cricket fan have known to ask about why, on the tour, Mark won't be dancing with his professional partner Karen Hardy, with whom he won the 2006 series? Or to have expressed heartfelt disenchantment at the decision? I doubt it.

"I'm really disappointed!" Mark sighs. "I built up such a great relationship with Karen. She became such a good friend."

Part of the reason their partnership worked was that Karen's brimming-with-enthusiasm personality brought the best out of Mark's rather more reserved manner.

In the end, of course, she persuaded him to strut his stuff in slit-to-the-waist shirts in spectacular, series-winning style.

"Whenever Karen enters a room, it lights up," he says. "In the first four or five days of training, I was quite reserved and I wasn't saying too much. Karen started to take the mickey out of me. I had a choice: to ignore it or come back at her. I chose the latter and that's when I started to have fun."

Mark's early, self-conscious appearances suggested the rigid forms of ballroom might suit him better than the impromptu oscillations of Latin. In fact, the opposite proved true.

"I found the ballroom quite awkward, dancing so close to Karen," he admits. "I was always treading on her feet. It's so difficult to let yourself go. The salsa and the samba allowed me to relax more."

Karen was not involved in the last series of Strictly – hence her absence from the tour.

One paper claimed she had been axed in the same clear-out that saw judge Arlene Phillips removed from the show. Mark isn't aware of the details but he does miss Arlene.

"I was really disappointed Arlene wasn't on the show. She's great entertainment," he says.

Arlene was a big fan of Mark's too – in particular Mark's hips, as she made abundantly clear. Did she embarrass him with her hot flushes of praise?

"I always had very nice comments from her. I was glad she liked me!" he says, diplomatically.

For the tour, Arlene is back. And in the place of Karen, Mark will be dancing with Kristina Rihanoff, the blonde bombshell who partnered Joe Calzaghe in this year's show.

This is the first time he has taken part in the tour.

"I haven't danced since the series," he says. "I will have to dust off the shoes!"

Mark is not the first cricketer to have found success on Strictly. In the series prior to his championship run, Darren Gough enacted an even more remarkable transformation, from doltish clodhopper to suave sophisticate. And this year Phil Tufnell reached the second half of the competition.

While most sportsmen wait until retirement to embark on the reality TV trail, Mark found the Strictly and cricket seasons dovetailed perfectly.

"Surrey had just been promoted so I missed the last week of the season which allowed me to get into Strictly," he explains. "And October, November and December, when the programme runs, are all off-season."

Despite their lack of performance skills, athletes adapt well to the physical demands of Strictly.

"It's a different sort of fitness," Mark muses. "With cricket, you are tied quite a lot to running and gym work. The dancing is great fun and helps your posture and balance but you do need agility. But it can't hurt you."

Olympic hopeful Jade Johnson, who had to quit this year's series with a knee injury, might disagree with that last statement. But, fitness aside, sports stars also seem well-equipped to cope with the scathing criticism dished out by the judges.

"I got my fair share of criticism – particularly from Craig!" recalls Mark, referring to the drawling mouth of the judging panel, Craig Revel Horwood. "You have to accept if you don't dance well, you're going to get some stick. You try not to take it personally. I think there's that element in sports people that says, 'Fine. I will come back harder next week.'"

Mark was first approached about Strictly via his agent. At the time, he didn't really know anything much about it.

"I said I didn't know anything about the show but that I'd think about it, just to get him off the phone.

"I had only seen Darren Gough's first few dances and that was enough for me! I had to hide behind the sofa. Of course, he's an excellent dancer now. I asked his advice before I did it and he said, 'You have to. You'll have a great time.'"

His wife and two daughters, Cara and Anya, were also big fans and insisted he give it a go.

"The girls really enjoyed coming along to see it and asking for autographs. Both of them dance – ballet and tap, that kind of thing," he says.

Standing at the top of the Strictly staircase, on opening night, however, made the whole experience seem less of a good idea.

"It's so tough," he said. "It's hard to put into words. When the announcer says your name, you realise there's no going back – apart from trying to run out of the building. There are a lot of people in the show whose nerves get the better of them. And it's not as though it gets easier. There's a new routine to learn every week. You're completely out of your comfort zone. Your big worry, as an amateur, is that if you make one mistake you might lose the routine altogether. The professionals, of course, can pick it up again."

Just to finish off the interview, I return to Mark's own professional career – as arguably the best English batsman of his generation (although this was sadly never reflected in his number of international appearances).

"I've got lots of memories of Trent Bridge," he says. "It's a great cricket stadium. I remember playing there for England in 1998 against South Africa."

During his career, he was sponsored by Gunn and Moore, based in Nottingham. "I used to come up to the factory quite a lot. I feel very comfortable in Nottingham," he says.

Nowadays, of course, he gets recognised by both cricket and Strictly enthusiasts – typically very different types of people.

"It's a bit weird. I don't know how many cricket fans watch the dancing," he laughs.

Retirement from cricket isn't far away. "I've got two years left on my contract with Surrey. That will take me to 42. I think the time will be about right to go," he says.

A last shot at international level dissipated last summer when he didn't get the rumoured call-up against Australia.

"I wasn't very disappointed," he says, pragmatically. "I kind of knew the selectors weren't going to come my way. It made a great story in the media but I wasn't holding my breath. I was ready if required. I'd been playing well enough; I was confident I could come in and play. It was very flattering to have the public support. But happily England got the right result in the end."

Strictly Come Dancing comes to the Trent FM Arena from January 26 to 28 and on February 8 and 9. For tickets, call 08444 124 624.