**Official** England in New Zealand

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Like others, bit mystified by Prior's axing when it comes after a standout performance with the bat on one of cricket's toughest tours

Only thing I can think of is that when he drops catches, they all seem to be low and to the right and are the result of same errors in footwork.

Perhaps, selectors feel he has long enough to eradicate that one glaring flaw

 

[TheEpic]

Diabolical. Why is Phil Mustard, possibly one of the worst FC keeper/batsmen in the country, in this squad, and possibly in line to play Test match cricket? Why not just choose Ambrose and Prior!? What the hell. The selectors really need to have a think about what the hell they are doing. An absolute disgrace.

 

[tooextracool]

I really dont rate him as a batsman, and I always thought Geraint had the ability, just awful shot selection and couldnt handle the pressure, Prior for me plays waaay too much through the leg side, not attractive to watch, and just not very good, maybe i'm being harsh...but...hmmm, just dont rate him at akll.

If Geraint had put in the same effort into his batting as he did in his wicket-keeping he might have been something. On prior, i would have not been surprised if he had failed on the tour to NZ-has extremely limited footwork and is a caught behind candidate when the ball is moving about. Nonetheless, he didnt deserve to be dropped, at least not while Mustard is still in.

 

[Richard]

Meh dont have footage of his performances in 2004. From memory though most of his shots were on the back foot, either cuts or pulls and it would be especially odd that he was playing it extremely well a year before the very same weakness was exploited(albeit not completely) by the Aussies the following summer. As i have said earlier, his bat comes down at an angle from behind the wickets and that is something i have noticed about him since his debut. I have noticed though that after hes in for a while he starts playing the drive much better and his bat comes down straighter, but at the start of his innings its almost always coming down crooked. Unless hes managed to sort that weakness out completely, id be very surprised if he succeeded at the test match level. And when you factor in his inability to play spin, it just gets worse.

He played a great many back-foot shots - cuts and pulls - in 2004 and 2004\05. But he did also play plenty of drives, on the ground, to the right deliveries, in the right way. And flicks to leg. The worst dismissal I've ever seen from Strauss in a Test was when he was caught at mid-wicket at Adelaide. No Test batsman should ever be doing that, unless they've got 240 to their name or something.

His bat coming down at an angle explains the occasional lbw to inswinger problem he's had. But I hardly recall him, so much as once, driving the ball in the air off the front-foot in his first year in Tests. And that wasn't just because no-one ever bowled balls out there. He either left it, or he drove it if he could keep it down.

EDIT: not to say there weren't some familiar dismissals to drives, even early on (remember Edgbaston 2004, caught at slip to Lawson in identical manner in both innings). But in amongst them he scored runs, at the very least against weak bowling-attacks.

 

[Pratters]

Happy to see Prior out. Have never been happy with his wicket keeping and I cannot see how a keeper not upto standard with the gloves can be a real option. Perhaps the timing could have been better but it was a question of when and not if for me. Improve your keeping and then try and come into the side.

Graveney also commented that Prior's exclusion is due to his wicketkeeping performances, rather than his batting. "Matt Prior performed well with the bat in Sri Lanka and it has been a difficult decision to leave him out of this tour," he said, "But the selectors feel that he needs to further improve his wicket-keeping in order to realise his full potential in international cricket."

 

[Richard]

Kev, would you be interested in doing a "comment" feature-article on this squad, and this winter's baffling selections in general? I think you'd do such a thing best. But if you don't want to, I will.

 

[tooextracool]

He played a great many back-foot shots - cuts and pulls - in 2004 and 2004\05. But he did also play plenty of drives, on the ground, to the right deliveries, in the right way. And flicks to leg. The worst dismissal I've ever seen from Strauss in a Test was when he was caught at mid-wicket at Adelaide. No Test batsman should ever be doing that, unless they've got 240 to their name or something.

Id say there were a fair few dismissals on the tour to India off short wide deliveries that were probably just as bad IMO, particularly this one: http://www.howstat.com.au/cricket/Statistics/Matches/MatchScorecard.asp?MatchCode=1803 in the first innings.

His bat coming down at an angle explains the occasional lbw to inswinger problem he's had. But I hardly recall him, so much as once, driving the ball in the air off the front-foot in his first year in Tests. And that wasn't just because no-one ever bowled balls out there. He either left it, or he drove it if he could keep it down.

EDIT: not to say there weren't some familiar dismissals to drives, even early on (remember Edgbaston 2004, caught at slip to Lawson in identical manner in both innings). But in amongst them he scored runs, at the very least against weak bowling-attacks.

Theres a clear difference between bowling the occasional full ball and continuosly attempting to make him drive at the start of his innings. As such the latter has been employed by most teams across the world and this has caused him problems in the last 2 years. NZ and WI werent expected to do much anyways. Nor really is Ntini, but Pollock and co constantly bowled the wrong lengths to him during the series in SA.

 

[Richard]

Id say there were a fair few dismissals on the tour to India off short wide deliveries that were probably just as bad IMO, particularly this one: http://www.howstat.com.au/cricket/Statistics/Matches/MatchScorecard.asp?MatchCode=1803 in the first innings.

Haha that was a shocker, no doubt, but at least that ball did a bit and the catch was in the slips. He'd have been best served leaving that one. The one at Adelaide was a ball he should have been clipping through square-leg, hopefully for four, and he somehow hit it in the air to the fielder at mid-wicket.

Theres a clear difference between bowling the occasional full ball and continuosly attempting to make him drive at the start of his innings. As such the latter has been employed by most teams across the world and this has caused him problems in the last 2 years. NZ and WI werent expected to do much anyways. Nor really is Ntini, but Pollock and co constantly bowled the wrong lengths to him during the series in SA.

Would you really expect the Jerome Taylors, Daren Powells etc. to do so either? Any more than you'd expect the Mohammad Samis, Abdur\l Razzaqs, Shahid Nazirs, etc. to do? Do you really think Strauss' batting was exactly the same in both series? I didn't watch the 2006 one attentively enough to know really, and I suppose unless you have every ball on DVD you can't know for certain. But I do wonder, very much.

 

[steds]

I think my thoughts on Prior are well documented, but just for posterity:

Thank **** for that

 

[Neil Pickup]

This BBC article makes it quite clear that it thinks that the top seven will be Strauss, Cook, Vaughan, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Ambrose.

Also mentioned - the Lions squad to play in the Duleep Trophy (Zonal comp) in India whilst the NZ ODIs are on: M Yardy (Sussex, capt), K Ali (Worcs), M Carberry (Hants), S Davies (Worcs, wkt), J Denly (Kent), J Hildreth (Somerset), E Joyce (Middx), G Onions (Durham), M Panesar (Northants), L Plunkett (Durham), A Rashid (Yorks), A Richardson (Middx), J Trott (Warks) - Richardson and Panesar the notable selections.

 

[Richard]

This BBC article makes it quite clear that it thinks that the top seven will be Strauss, Cook, Vaughan, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Ambrose.

If it's anything but that that'll be madness too.

Also mentioned - the Lions squad to play in the Duleep Trophy (Zonal comp) in India whilst the NZ ODIs are on: M Yardy (Sussex, capt), K Ali (Worcs), M Carberry (Hants), S Davies (Worcs, wkt), J Denly (Kent), J Hildreth (Somerset), E Joyce (Middx), G Onions (Durham), M Panesar (Northants), L Plunkett (Durham), A Rashid (Yorks), A Richardson (Middx), J Trott (Warks) - Richardson and Panesar the notable selections.

Alan Richardson? You ARE kidding me?

 

[wpdavid]

Panesar's there to turn his arm during the NZ onedayers isn't he? Which makes sense, given the lack of a meaningful warm-up schedule in today's tours. Richardson's interesting though - do you know what his stats were for 2007?

 

[steds]

Richardson's interesting though - do you know what his stats were for 2007?

42 FC wickets @ 24.somethingorother. Big improvement on 2006's 4.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Career Stats: 2007 yielded 42 wickets @ 24.21.

 

[four_or_six]

Also mentioned - the Lions squad to play in the Duleep Trophy (Zonal comp) in India whilst the NZ ODIs are on: M Yardy (Sussex, capt), K Ali (Worcs), M Carberry (Hants), S Davies (Worcs, wkt), J Denly (Kent), J Hildreth (Somerset), E Joyce (Middx), G Onions (Durham), M Panesar (Northants), L Plunkett (Durham), A Rashid (Yorks), A Richardson (Middx), J Trott (Warks) - Richardson and Panesar the notable selections.

Why isn't Prior on the Lions tour improving his keeping?

 

[steds]

Why isn't Prior on the Lions tour improving his keeping?

Presumably because Davies is "the chosen one", and they want him to to get some cricket over the winter.

 

[four_or_six]

I would say Graveney had lost the plot but I'm not sure he ever had it.

 

[steds]

I would usually agree with you, but totally ridding the scene of Prior is the best thing he's ever done.

 

[sledger]

glad to see you share my stance sir bennett.

 

[TT Boy]

No problem with Prior being dropped. His wicket keeping was poor in Sri Lanka and appalling in the summer, his needs to be held accountable. You can not keep him around just because he averages 40, when his shelling Sri Lanka’s and India’s best batsman, who then go onto score more runs than Prior could ever dream of.

Would have no problem if Prior comeback though purely as a batsman. Give up the ghost with Sussex, play as a batsman and let Andy Hodd or Ben Brown fight it out for the wicket keeping duties.