England vs India 2014: Matt Prior takes break from international cricket to focus on 'fitness issues'
Matt Prior has become the latest victim of England’s disastrous run which started in Ashes Down Under. The wicket-keeper batsman has announced that he’ll be taking a break from the ongoing series against India to recover from his injuries, and has hinted that we may have seen the last of him as an England international cricketer.
“The decision I’ve made is that I’m unavailable for the rest of this series due to my fitness. I’m not retiring or anything like that – I would still love to play for England and I still know what I can offer England – but right now I’m not physically able to be at the level I need to be in order to perform at my level. I’m not doing justice to myself and more importantly the team and that is what matters first and foremost,” an emotional Prior said after the Lord’s Test.
“I’ve had a combination of injuries that have had an impact. My achilles, everyone knows about and is an ongoing problem and my goal was to get it to a manageable place. I tore my quad before the first Test and my right hand has been beaten to a pulp, but the main issue is the achilles. Now we have the time, I want to be proactive about how we deal with it so I imagine that I’ll have an operation.”
Prior, who has been England’s preferred man behind the stumps, was very outspoken on his recent failiures and pleadged to make a comeback from his slump after the surgery.
“It is a huge decision and not one I’ve taken lightly obviously. I could have played my last game. I want to go out having won the Ashes again and dancing on the podium but if this is my last game then it is certainly not the way I envisaged going out.
“If that happens and I don’t play again, then that was my lot. I’ll be disappointed because there are a few things that I wanted to achieve and thought I would, but I can also look back and know I did some pretty good things. The toughest part of the decision has been the situation we’re in. I wanted nothing more than to help us get through it and come out the other side,” said an emotional Prior who hit a short pitch delivery from Ishant Sharma straight to the stationed mid-wicket fielder in England’s second innings.
Jos Buttler was drafted in as cover for the 79-Test veteran for the second Test and is expected to make the playing XI in the next Test match scheduled at Southampton.
Prior has dropped a few catches this summer and hasn’t been in good nick, but the drop of Indian opener Murali Vijay on Day 1 of the 2nd Test at Lord’s on a green pitch off Stuart Broad was the moment which made him take this step.
“I know what I should catch and what I shouldn’t, and the drop on the first morning really hurt me because I couldn’t move the way I needed to. I saw the edge all the way but I couldn’t move as quick as I needed to, and that is when I knew.
“I gave it everything for the next four days and I actually kept better as the game went on but I still knew that I wasn’t at the level I should be at, so that is when it became clear that I needed to stand down,” the 32-year-old signed off.