The baffling case of the England wicketkeepers
England's wicketkeepers Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter bring different individual qualities, skills-set and variety to the England squad
Abhishek Mukherjee
25-Feb-2013
England's wicketkeepers Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter bring different individual qualities, skills-set and variety to the England squad. Rob Smyth, writing in the Guardian, ponders over the "logic googly" that keeps Prior out of the limited-overs side inspite of being their 'attacking' batsman in Tests.
Consider this for a logic googly. Person A is the most successful attacking player in his team when they play the least attacking of the three forms of cricket, yet in the two more attacking forms of the game he cannot get a game. He is kept out of the side by Person B, even though he is essentially superior in both roles that their position demands. Welcome to the curious case of Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter.
You can have as many theories as you like, but sometimes there is no grand reason; a slowish start to an ODI career simply begins to perpetuate itself for the usual human reasons. There is much talk of one-day specialists, yet for every one of those there must logically be a Test specialist. Prior is 30 now and, although it seems daft to say about a player of such talent, we may have seen the last of him in coloured clothing for England.