London, August 26: Rather like a football referee, they say if a wicketkeeper is not noticed he is having a good game, so Matt Prior, has reason to be pleased that his position behind the stumps did not once come up for debate in the Ashes.
His resurgence as an international player has coincided with his association with former England keeper Bruce French as his mentor.
The quality of his work was evident in the decisive 197-run win over Australia at the Oval when he took a fine catch to dismiss Mitchell Johnson in the first innings and a smart stumping of Marcus North on the final heady afternoon, both off spinner Graeme Swann.
“That was brilliant but I made myself look a bit of a prat jumping around like that!” said Prior, of the latter dismissal. “One of my goals for this series has been to make sure no-one is talking about my wicketkeeping, and I hope I have been successful.
“When I came back into the team at the end of last summer, I just wanted to keep my head down and work hard.”
Prior’s poor trot with the gloves allowed former Sussex colleague Tim Ambrose to temporarily usurp him at the start of 2008 but his superior batting meant England were always keen to offer a second chance.
Even when it arrived, the jury was still out, particularly when he allowed 35 byes to pass during the drawn Test in Trinidad earlier this year – although to counter that he struck a hundred and was named man of the match.
But his improvement since forming a strong relationship with French, the man who preceded Jack Russell as England’s wicketkeeper in the 1980s, is undoubted.
“Bruce is a very infectious character and he really transmits his passion for the craftsmanship of wicketkeeping,” said Prior. “He has encouraged me to watch other keepers and now I find I am watching cricket in a whole different way. It’s quite strange but I can come out of a game and I am only really aware of what the keeper is doing.
“He has never said that there is one way of doing things or that I should follow one person as a model, just that everyone needs to find a method that works for them, and you can pick and choose the bits you want from other people’s techniques.
“People say that I take the ball past my hip now like an Australian but that’s not quite right: I just move my feet a lot more. My head and hands are still in a straight line when I catch the ball.”
French’s enthusiasm has clearly rubbed off, and if Prior can maintain such standards, England will not miss the now retired Andrew Flintoff’s runs in the middle order quite as much.
Despite being run out twice, only captain Andrew Strauss managed more runs for England than Prior’s 261 in the five-match series.
His ability with the bat, in fact, meant he seriously contemplated ditching the gloves at the start of the 2008 season, such was his determination to make it at Test level.
“After being left out of the side when we got back from Sri Lanka two winters ago, there were times when I was looking at different options,” he recalls. “But I sat down with different people – my family and Alec Stewart – and I decided to give wicketkeeping another go.
“I didn’t want to give it up; I enjoy having two roles in the team.”
—-Agencies