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Jack Russell says an England Test return for Matt Prior is not in his hands

By Allsports.com.gh
Sports News Jack Russell says an England Test return for Matt Prior is not in his hands
JUL 28, 2014 LISTEN

Prior was a key member of the England team that reached top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings in 2011, and boasts an average of 40.18 with the bat from 79 Test appearances.

However, the 32-year-old keeper has struggled with form and fitness in recent times.

In the aftermath of England's loss to India in the second Test of their current five-match series, Prior revealed he will take an indefinite break from five-day cricket to recuperate from injuries to his right quadricep and right hand, while he is also expecting to have surgery on a long-standing Achilles problem.

Prior admitted that he may have played his last Test for England, and his replacement Jos Buttler made an immediate impression on Monday when striking 85 on debut.

Russell - who featured in 54 Tests between 1988 and 1998 - believes Prior is arguably the best batsman to have kept wicket for England, but feels the Sussex man's future will be determined to a large extent by how Buttler fares in the coming months.

Speaking to Perform, Russell said: "It depends on what Buttler does and whether Matt Prior can get back and get fit.

"If he comes back and blazes it for Sussex next season and the others don't take their chance then he's got a very good chance of coming back.

"But it's out of his hands at the minute, all he can do is concentrate on getting fit. That's his first priority, then get back and enjoy playing for Sussex again and see where that takes him.

"He's still young enough and he's still a devastating cricketer and he may come back a better player. His record's been great, to average 40-odd as the England keeper is phenomenal.

"His keeping apart from the last year or so has been top class so we've had the best of both worlds with him. He could go down as an all-time great because of the amount of runs he's scored and I'm sure he will.

"You've got to be careful about rating keepers these days because the batting is a priority and the keeping's not. It's more about how many runs you can score down at number six or number seven and being devastating in the way you score them.

"I think overall it will come down to how many runs you score and his [Prior's] batting average is better than a lot of England batters I played with so he's going to be up there with the all-time greats.

"From a batsman-keeper point of view, rather than a wicketkeeper-batsman, he's probably been our best."

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