I enjoy international cricket now - Prior
From an uncertain start to his Test career, Matt Prior is one of the leading wicketkeeper-batsmen in world cricket today and part of the world's No
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
From an uncertain start to his Test career, Matt Prior is one of the leading wicketkeeper-batsmen in world cricket today and part of the world's No. 1 Test team. He talks to Paul Newman in the Daily Mail about his journey so far - from the criticism, to working with Bruce French, the importance of the Pakistan series last summer and more.
‘Your dream as a kid is to play for England and when you are left out you go into some deep and dark places. The worst thing that could happen in my world was being dropped by England but when it happened I realised it wasn’t as if my world was over. Once I’d cleared the haze it almost gave me the freedom to say, “This is the player I want to be”. I was going to play for England again whatever it took.’
In the Daily Telegraph Prior writes about the key areas he focussed on that helped him improve his wicketkeeping - from clear thinking to maintaining the perfect posture.
PERFECT POSTURE Good posture is essential, it gives me a powerful and balanced position to move to any ball quickly and with confidence. My legs can’t be too bent or my back hunched and I don’t want to have straight knees or to lean back. I want to be in a shape like the letter Z. Once you have that position, if you are stood back or stood up, it doesn’t change. The only thing that changes is the set-up. It is similar to a slip catcher’s position and, at the point of delivery, we all look the same in the cordon.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo