Matt Prior announces retirement from cricket
England wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a stellar career that saw him score 4099 runs at an average of 40.18 and effect 256 dismissals (243 catches and 13 stumpings) in 79 Tests for England. Prior had undergone an operation on his Achilles injury after their defeat to India in the Lord’s Test last year and had been out of action ever since. He had hoped to make a comeback for his county, Sussex, at the start of the 2015 season, but a failure to do so has forced Prior to call it quits at the age of just 33.
He also played 68 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 10 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for his country.
"Today is a very sad day for me as I am forced to announce my retirement from the game I love," Prior said. "I had been hoping and expecting to be fit for the start of the 2015 season. Unfortunately, this has proved impossible, and I have now had to reach this decision.
"I feel honoured to have played for Sussex and England as many times as I have and shared so many great times with both teams. I also feel privileged to have been involved in an era of such success for English cricket.
"I would like to thank my family, team-mates, coaches and the people behind the scenes that have supported me throughout the years. I have created friendships that will last forever. It would also be remiss of me not to thank the fantastic support I have had from cricket fans both at home and abroad.
"I have always tried to play with pride and passion and have a deep belief that the team will always come first. A value that will never leave me whatever I go on to do. Although I haven't achieved all the goals I had set out to, I feel immensely proud of what I have done in my career. Sadly it is now time to move on."
While Prior would not have wanted his career to end in such a manner, having scored just 462 runs from his final 13 Tests at a paltry average of 23.10, he can eventually be extremely proud of his immense contribution to a largely successful era in English cricket. At his pomp, he was a regular in the Test side and came up plenty of match-defining performances with the bat as well as the gloves to help England in their ascent to the No.1 Test ranking in 2011.
During the course of the last two years, however, a combination of poor form and injuries meant that he was no more the force he once was and he was replaced by Jos Buttler during the end of the 2014 English summer. Since then, Buttler has proven to be more than an adequate replacement and cemented his place as England’s leading gloveman across all formats of the game, thereby having made it very unlikely for Prior to return to the national set-up anyway.