Prior poised for dual role

10:05am Friday 5th September 2008

Matt Prior is favourite to reclaim the wicketkeeping position in England's Test side following his impressive displays during the NatWest Series rout of South Africa.

The 26-year-old lost his place as England's Test and one-day wicketkeeper last year and spent most of this summer in county cricket with Sussex attempting to impress the selectors enough to earn a recall.

Now he looks to have done enough to convince influential voices like captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores, who said: "He's done really well. The first thing he did well is that when he got left out of the Test match side he came back very strongly and did well in county cricket, which is always a good sign."

He added: "We then gave him a chance here (in the one-day series) and he's shown he's improved as a wicketkeeper and he's been calm so there's a lot of credit to him for the way he's played - he's put the ball in the selectors' court that's for sure."

Moores and the other selectors are due to meet in the next few days before announcing the 13-man squad to compete in the Stanford Super Series in Antigua on November 1 and the seven-match one-day series in India that follows.

But they intend to delay the announcement of the Test squad, who face India in two Tests shortly before Christmas, until the end of the county season to allow players like Michael Vaughan time to press their case for inclusion.

Prior is already favourite to be named as wicketkeeper in both squads after forming an impressive opening partnership with Ian Bell during the 4-0 NatWest series triumph.

He has also demonstrated the work he has put in on his wicketkeeping, equalling Alec Stewart's England record of six catches in the second match at Trent Bridge, and already seems to have convinced Pietersen of his merits.

"He's gone away from the game and not talked about much and worked on his game, got better at the areas where he probably let himself down and went away and worked at it," Pietersen said. "He's been consistently brilliant throughout the one-day series and deserves all the accolades.

"Matty likes people in his corner and I'm certainly in his corner as is the coach and the senior players - we want Matty Prior to be in our side and be successful for us for a long time because he's a very talented kid."

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