Prior's ODI conundrum
England wicketkeeper Matt Prior scored his fifth test hundred on the second day of the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
England wicketkeeper Matt Prior scored his fifth test hundred on the second day of the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka. Watching him take the Sri Lanka attack apart, Steve James wonders why on earth can't Prior crack international one-day cricket. More from the Sunday Telegraph.
Here again on Saturday England’s wicketkeeper was taking a Test attack apart, making his second successive century at an excellent lick. He has made five Test centuries now, at an average of 44.58 and a strike rate of 65.21, which is higher than any of England's recognised batsmen.
And yet Prior the Test-dasher has made just three fifties in 62 ODI innings, and in 42 of them he has batted in the top three of the order, so it is not as if he has had limited opportunities.
David Lloyd in the Independent reckons that part of the problem, perhaps, is that England have spent a long time trying to convince themselves that their Test wicketkeeper should be their one-day international opener. Then, having come to the conclusion last year that they might do better by looking elsewhere, the selectors made an 11th-hour decision to recall Prior in the run-up to a World Cup that followed hard on the heels of an Ashes campaign.
Like England in general, Prior never quite knew what was coming next on the subcontinent. Six innings brought him a top score of 22 not out and a total of 78 runs but he batted here, there and just about everywhere, thanks to the short-lived experiment of opening with Kevin Pietersen.
Still, the bottom line is that in 50-over cricket, after 68 matches in six and a half years, Prior has a best score of 87 and an average of just 24 – clearly that is not good enough to guarantee him a place in a one-day side that will now be led by Alastair Cook.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo