Prior not losing sleep over Langer dossier

Matt Prior, the England wicketkeeper, has shrugged off the comment about his "massive ego" in Justin Langer's leaked dossier about the England team and said he hadn't "lost too much sleep over it".

Prior, who overcame a pre-toss back spasm to top score in England's first innings at Headingley, said comments like Langer's were part of the game. In the dossier, Langer advised the Australian team to chip away at Prior "about his wicketkeeping and the pressure he is under to perform with the gloves on". "I am not sure he actually likes keeping that much and from all accounts he has a massive ego so I would be reminding him about how his keeping could see him out of the team," Langer wrote. "I would definitely work on his ego."

Prior said he just planned to concentrate on his work and stay in the zone. "It is important whose advice and whose opinion you should listen to and take seriously," Prior said. "It is not something I would take seriously or listen to. If my team-mates or my friends started saying something like that I might listen to it but otherwise it is nothing.

"It is part and parcel of the game, whatever anyone's thoughts or ideas are that is fine, that is up to them."

Prior was subjected to public and media ire during India's 2007 tour to England over sledging Sachin Tendulkar as well as his alleged involvement in the jelly-bean incident with Zaheer Khan. Prior denied littering the pitch with jelly beans to distract Zaheer and said he was victimised for the rest of the series. Poor form behind the stumps cost him his place in the side and Prior later said he had difficulty coming to terms with the "character assassinations" from the media and public.

On the England board's request, Sussex have rested Prior from the Twenty20 Cup matches on Sunday. Sussex are scheduled to play Northamptonshire in the semi-final which will be followed by the final later that day. Prior said the decision to rest him had not been taken because of the back spasm. "My back is fine, I've had physio pretty much everyday since the Test match, so today it is 90-95% spot on.

"All my energy and all my thinking is obviously going towards [the Test], so first and foremost I think it would be unfair on myself or on my Sussex team-mates if I were to turn up on Saturday if my head was not fully on the white ball and Twenty20 cricket - slogging and what not - when really I'm thinking about building a long innings of Test cricket."