Matt Prior is determined to prove he still has a one-day future despite the emergence of Craig Kieswetter

Andrew McGlashan23-Jun-2010From being England’s wicketkeeper in all three formats, Matt Prior nowonly has his Test place after watching Craig Kieswetter hot-foot itinto the limited-overs set up with considerable early success. Butrather than bemoan his lot, Prior is determined to use his recentomission as an incentive to improve and is adamant he has a one-dayfuture with his country.The England selectors made no secret of the fact they were monitoringKieswetter’s development closely, but the speed of his promotion tothe full side meant that in a matter of two weeks Prior was lookingover his shoulder. Both played in the first two ODIs in Bangladeshearlier this year, with Prior retaining the gloves, but the writingwas on the wall when Kieswetter was given the role for the final matchin Chittagong.He responded with a maiden hundred and was duly included the WorldTwenty20 squad, when he hit a Man-of-the-Match 63 in the final againstAustralia. Such was Kieswetter’s impact that it was no surprise whenPrior was overlooked for the current one-day squad, yet he has barelyput a foot wrong over the last 12 months.”Competition for places is very healthy and certainly all the timeI’ve been in the England team there’s been pressure with peoplewatching your every move,” Prior told Cricinfo. “Whoever has the roleat any given time will be under pressure. That’s international sport,but the nice thing for me is I know I’ve dealt with it before, handledit and come back stronger. I’m fine with the competition andpressure.”Prior, though, wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t feeling frustrated bythe current situation. His ability with the bat has rarely beendoubted, but in the earlier phases of his international career hisglovework raised plenty of questions and drove some team-mates,notably Ryan Sidebottom on the 2007-08 tour of Sri Lanka, todistraction. Now he has made himself a high-quality keeper, but hasbeen left out because his batting doesn’t fit England’s one-day model and couldn’t even find a place in the Lions squad to face India A and West Indies A.”It’s a frustration because you want to be there but they’ve gone fora different balance with the wicketkeeper opening the batting and atthe time I wasn’t opening,” he said. “That’s fair enough and anyoneknows that if you want two allrounders in the middle you can’t havetwo keepers, that’s pretty simple. Now it’s down to me. I’m backopening in one-day cricket for Sussex, which I enjoy and it’s the mostnatural spot for me, and I have a lot belief in my ability. Now I’vegot to score a lot of runs and keep knocking on the door.”Prior knows that it is vital he maintains his run-scoring form both incounty cricket and when he resumes his England place for the Testseries against Pakistan. He is using his international break to spendtime on his batting, which took a back seat as the keeping improved,and to rest a damaged right hand. Prior isn’t currently behind thestumps for Sussex – who also have Brendon McCullum and Andy Hodd inthe Twenty20 team – but won’t consider the thought of becoming aspecialist one-day batsman. “Certainly not, I’m a batsman-keeper andthat’s my role,” he said.He takes immense pride in the development of his glovework which owesa huge amount to the tireless efforts of Bruce French, England’swicketkeeping coach, who can often be seen spending hours on theoutfield with Prior especially on overseas tours. Ironically, onemoment that showed how proficient Prior has become came in his lastTwenty20 international, when he pulled off an outstanding leg-sidestumping to remove Shoaib Malik in Dubai.”When I first started working with Frenchy our goal was to be morethan a regular keeper who catches the ball, actually to be someone whocan make chances out of nothing,” said Prior. “When things like thathappen it feels good because of all the work. It doesn’t mean I’m thefinished article, I need to keep getting better, but I’m really happywith where by keeping is at.”He admits that being a wicketkeeper can be a lonely role with no oneelse to share the burden, but sees every challenge as a motivation topush himself harder. “It can be, there’s only one keeper and you haveto be one to understand what it’s like,” he said. “I think that’s whyI’ve enjoyed having Brendon McCullum at Sussex because we can have aproper whinge about how it’s the toughest job in cricket. It probablyisn’t, but we like to think it is.”But I’ve known that if I want to be the England keeper I have to bethe best out there, and if someone comes in a does better I have toraise my game.”Matt Prior is a Chance to Shine ambassador and was taking partin “Brit Insurance National Cricket Day”, a day of cricket-themedactivity in hundreds of schools across the country. Find out more atchancetoshine.org