Prior steps down

According to Sky Verdict... taking the rest of the summer off but to all intents and purposes an international retirement.

At least one had the decency to fall on his sword I suppose. So, who replaces him? Buttler is the exciting long term pick but I'd go for a steady hand of Read or Foster in this scenario, both offer potential stopgap captaincy options whenever it becomes vacant as well. And with the depth of batting we can afford it, Read could bat 8 or 9 in this side.

Suspect they will go for Bairstow though  

Makes Cook's comments earlier look a bit silly.

A breaking of the ranks?

Apparently says it's for injury reasons. Perhaps like Swann he wasn't going to be dropped but didn't feel able to perform to the required standard any more.

Any other options I haven't mentioned? Beddy's obviously injured, is Davies in the picture?

I think this team needs a specialist keeper more than it needs a batsman-keeper at the minute, so England will go for Buttler, obviously. Not sure who they could pick if they went with a specialist keeper though, everybody's bridges seem burned there.

Anyway, one more down, four to go... Jimmy could be the next if the hearing goes against him. So, Cook, Bell and Broad... who will be last man standing?

So bloody melodramatic, needing to take the whole summer off to get themselves right.

Just get dropped like a normal person, you egotistical shitbag.

Been a quality performer for England, Matty P, but he's stunk the place out in the last year. Absolutely honked - yet still retained that ugly sense of entitlement that has brought this whole England era crashing down so dramatically.

beamer wrote:Apparently says it's for injury reasons. Perhaps like Swann he wasn't going to be dropped but didn't feel able to perform to the required standard any more.

Any other options I haven't mentioned? Beddy's obviously injured, is Davies in the picture?

Davies appears to have all but give up the gloves, he's been played by Surrey as a specialist batsman for most of the season.

Quote from the ECB website, knew he was ****** before he even played, selfish sh!t

Confirmation that Matt Prior is taking a break from England duty for the rest of the summer - http://the-ecb.co.uk/RZYCaJ

"I'm not doing justice to myself and more importantly the team and that is what matters first and foremost," Prior said.

"I tore my quad before the first Test and my right hand has been beaten to a pulp, but the main issue is the Achilles.

"I've always said as long as I can do my job I will manage the pain and get on with it, but it has now got to the point where I can't do my job to the level I expect of myself."

F*ck you Matt Prior. And f*ck you England. Who are you to pick and choose whenever you play for England? The England team has become so cosy for players like him- yes men who don't rock the boat yet secretly undermine and contribute to the downfall of outspoken, strong personalities who can see this England team for what it really is, whilst at the same time kissing the right arses in order to ensure his own place is secure.

You know what Prior needs? Someone to tell him he's full of shit. Someone to say he's a weasel of a man who has helped to severely damage English cricket by sneakily making like as difficult as he can for players who's faces 'don't fit.' He is exactly the type of player that is bringing English cricket crashing to its knees- a relic of the "legacy" era. A group of players who thought they were so f*cking amazing and untouchable that their egos and sense of grandeur have still not completely evaporated, despite this being one of the worst and most humiliating periods in English cricket history. Legacy? You've just been utterly outplayed by an Indian team that hasn't won a series overseas for three years, on a lord's pitch absolutely made to order, by an Indian bowler who is routinely ridiculed in his own country. You complete and utter twat Matthew James Prior.

So yeah, stand down. Take time off. Because that's what weasels like you do when the going gets tough. And you try to gloss it over by saying it's all down to injury if you want, but none of us forget that you were pathetic in Australia as well when fully fit. And pathetic in England last summer. You've been pathetic for over a year thoroughly resting on your laurels after a brilliant 2012 when you were named England's player of they year. That was it for you. You took your foot off the pedal. You took it easy. You got thoroughly complacent and self-satisfied, but no one in the England setup has the guts to say it. And you still think you have the "authority" to make this kind of grand, overly dramatic announcement.

And you probably even think English fans will miss you. Nothing could be further from the truth. F*ck off. And ,my god, I hope you never get picked for England again, because you have done immense damage this past year.

Dello wrote:So bloody melodramatic, needing to take the whole summer off to get themselves right.

Just get dropped like a normal person, you egotistical shitbag.

Been a quality performer for England, Matty P, but he's stunk the place out in the last year. Absolutely honked - yet still retained that ugly sense of entitlement that has brought this whole England era crashing down so dramatically.

Superbly put, particularly the highlighted sentence.

Summary of ECB selectors meeting

"The batting is brittle and the bowling wayward ...so we'll let the wicketkeeper quit"

aye but he misses heaps of chances and cannot bat...then again he is an extremely positive influence on the dressing room

can we finally say Haddit>Prior?

horace wrote:aye but he misses heaps of chances and cannot bat...then again he is an extremely positive influence on the dressing room

can we finally say Haddit>Prior?

Zoehrer > Prior

and of course he also provided a spinning option (other than his spinning head)

Yebbut was Prior more dire than Dyer?

yep...cannot recall anyone lower on the pecking order of keepers than Dyer

Nobody beats Dyer at 'one hand one bounce'

Check out the footage of the Dyer Clayton's catch - when he picked the ball off the deck you could see the dead patch of grass where it had been, so long it had been sitting there.

Henry wrote:F*ck you Matt Prior. And f*ck you England. Who are you to pick and choose whenever you play for England? The England team has become so cosy for players like him- yes men who don't rock the boat yet secretly undermine and contribute to the downfall of outspoken, strong personalities who can see this England team for what it really is, whilst at the same time kissing the right arses in order to ensure his own place is secure.

You know what Prior needs? Someone to tell him he's full of shit. Someone to say he's a weasel of a man who has helped to severely damage English cricket by sneakily making like as difficult as he can for players who's faces 'don't fit.' He is exactly the type of player that is bringing English cricket crashing to its knees- a relic of the "legacy" era. A group of players who thought they were so f*cking amazing and untouchable that their egos and sense of grandeur have still not completely evaporated, despite this being one of the worst and most humiliating periods in English cricket history. Legacy? You've just been utterly outplayed by an Indian team that hasn't won a series overseas for three years, on a lord's pitch absolutely made to order, by an Indian bowler who is routinely ridiculed in his own country. You complete and utter twat Matthew James Prior.

So yeah, stand down. Take time off. Because that's what weasels like you do when the going gets tough. And you try to gloss it over by saying it's all down to injury if you want, but none of us forget that you were pathetic in Australia as well when fully fit. And pathetic in England last summer. You've been pathetic for over a year thoroughly resting on your laurels after a brilliant 2012 when you were named England's player of they year. That was it for you. You took your foot off the pedal. You took it easy. You got thoroughly complacent and self-satisfied, but no one in the England setup has the guts to say it. And you still think you have the "authority" to make this kind of grand, overly dramatic announcement.

And you probably even think English fans will miss you. Nothing could be further from the truth. F*ck off. And ,my god, I hope you never get picked for England again, because you have done immense damage this past year.

Hell yeah, Trev. Passion about the great game and those qunts that sully it!!! That's what we love.   

Wow Trev ... serious heartburn in your impassioned tirade.

However, I do agree - he has been a selfish c**t for the past 2 seasons, keeping a decent stickman out of the team ...

Time now to draft in newbie Buttler - sooner the better.

horace wrote:yep...cannot recall anyone lower on the pecking order of keepers than Dyer

Flipper

You could tell that his movement behind the stumps wasn't bouncy or fluid, but you know if Prior had done well in these last two games, he'd have stayed on regardless of injury. For me, it wasn't even his regressed keeping - we all seem to forget that he didn't drop a catch to the seamers for an age and only once or twice off a spinner.

It was the distinct arrogance in his batting that was the final straw.. had a problem with the short ball for a while, got away with a couple, then holing out down deep backward square a few balls later, when he was the last recognised batsman and Joe Root was well set.

It was absolutely criminal and smacked heavily of the arrogant hanger-on boyfriend.. you could tell how Cook loves him with all his testicles when he took that catch and practically mounted Prior... and he felt he could play any way he liked. Absolutely no grit, no guts, just piss and wind bluster.

Unfortunately that's how he'll be remembered. Not the nearly greatest wicketkeeper/batsman than England have had, being a massive part of our recipe for success.

As people have mentioned, at 33 and taking the summer off, with no Test cricket until April - how exceptionally arrogant that he thinks he'll be considered for selection at 34, with no match practice. Incredible.

You're done, Matt. Thanks for the good times, but the bad times make you look like a massive dick.

Criticise Prior as much as you like, and some of the mud sticks to be honest. But the real villain of the piece is a piss-weak management structure which allows a player, effectively, to decide his own destiny - Cook more or less said as much in his post-match interview.

It's not his fault that he was picked, but it was his fault that he played. If he was really being unselfish in stepping down, he wouldn't have stepped up in the first place. He'd have stayed with his county and proven his fitness to himself and others.

The same probably applies to Broad.