Given Prior Thought?

Taken from Swinging Balls Magazine, published 31/07/2011

The make-up of England’s test team over the last few years has been a topic of much debate. Despite a winning streak that could see them rise to the top of the test match rankings by the end of the summer, cricket writers and pundits have repeatedly asked the question as to whether playing only four bowlers is the best way to go as they look to bowl sides out twice on hard, flat wickets.

Prior has been in imperious form,
and could hold the key to England's
problematic number six position

The man who could hold the key to a change in the line-up is Matt Prior. The wicket-keeper has been in imperious form over the past 18 months with both bat in hand and behind the stumps. His century in the first test against India was one of his best and he is now arguably the world’s best in his position in five-day cricket.

From 44 matches, the Sussex man averages over 45 with the bat, and has gone past fifty on 23 occasions. Not many middle-order batsmen have records that equal that, never mind those that bat at number seven.

When you compare Prior’s statistics with those of the current holder of the number six position, Eoin Morgan, then it makes grim reading for the Dublin-born left hander. He has passed fifty only three times in his 14 test innings (prior to the second test at Trent Bridge), and has only reached 20 on a total of five occasions.

Many would ask why the England selectors would want to tinker with a formula that has been so successful, but with Prior in the form that he is, the selectors and Andrew Strauss will have undoubtedly thought about moving the stumper one place up the order.

Some may question whether playing only six recognised batsmen may leave them short in the runs department, but with a lower order that would most probably consist of Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, then that may not be the case.

Between the three of them they have gone past the half-century mark 14 times, and Broad especially is looking more and more like an international all-rounder with every match he plays. With the addition of an extra bowler, it could be argued that the England team would have all bases covered.

I, like many others, are fans of Morgan in the limited overs sides, but whether he can adapt his game for the test match arena is yet to be seen, and if England feel the same, the form of Prior means that they have the flexibility to change the way in which they line-up.