Births and their complications
Nobody quite so young as Baby Prior can have had such an influence on the naming of a Test team and the possible course of a series
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
Nobody quite so young as Baby Prior can have had such an influence on the naming of a Test team and the possible course of a series. Prior Snr flying home for the birth of his first child has opened a new selection conundrum for England. The only guaranteed selection is Tim Ambrose but the No.6 berth is still up for grabs and it's a tough choice between Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara. Stephen Brenkley ponders in the Independent.
Oh, and congratulations Matt and Emily.Births have been a regular feature of England tours in recent years. Indeed, every tour should have one and probably will. In 2002, Nasser Hussain took his wife and elder son to Australia so he would neither have to go home nor miss the birth of his second son. Strauss left a tour of Pakistan in late 2005 to be at the birth of his and his wife’s first baby. England lost by an innings.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo