12 Facts about Matt Prior - England's finest modern-day wicket-keeper

Matt Prior was an aggressive batsman and a skillful wicket keeper. Prior was England’s key lower order batsman for a long time, often rescuing the team out of the danger. His wicket keeping ability was in question for some part of his career but he kept improving to become England’s most trusted man behind the stumps. His chitter chatter although annoyed many batsmen and was one famous feature of him. He was a no-nonsense cricketer who was often compared with Alex Stewart. Unfortunately, his career didn’t have the longevity that Stewart enjoyed as he was forced to retire all form at the age of 32 due to injury problems.

1. Born On:

Matthew James Prior was born February 26, 1982, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa

2. Early life:

Matt Prior’s mother is South African and his father is English. He moved to England with his family aged 11.

3. Education:

Prior attended the Brighton College and began playing for Sussex County Cricket Club. During his early years, he played his colts cricket at St Matthias CC.

 4. Young achiever:

Prior received the NBC Denis Compton Award for young cricketers three times in his career.

5. International debut:

Prior made his One Day International debut in England’s one-day series against Zimbabwe in 2004. He was chosen to open with Ian Belland and made 35 before he was dismissed by Ed Rainsford.

6. Scores a century on Test Debut:

Matt Prior was chosen ahead of Paul Nixon for the keeper’s spot for the first Test of the summer at Lord’s in 2007 against the West Indies. Coming in at number 7, he scored a century on his debut, finishing on 126 not out. He became the first England wicketkeeper to score a Test hundred on debut and the 17th English batsman to record the feat overall.

7. One of the finest:

Prior has 243 catches to his credit in Tests for England. He is third in terms of all-time Test dismissals for England behind Alan Knott (250) and Alec Stewart (277).

8. Retirement:

Matt Prior’s problem with the Achilles tendon kept recurring which forced him to retire in 2014 midway during the Sri Lanka tour. He played 79 Tests and scoring 4099 runs and effected for 256 dismissals behind the sticks. He also played 68 ODIs where he scored 1670 runs with 79 dismissals. He could score only 100 runs In 10 T20Is and had 9 dismissals to his credit.

9. Matt ‘Watermelon’ Prior:

Matt Prior is nicknamed as Watermelon. It got this nickname while at Sussex in 2007 when Australian spin bowling great Shane Warne mimicked Prior’s walk to the crease with his arms out as if he was carrying a watermelon under each arm.

10. Passion for cycling:

Prior has said he has a “huge passion” for cycling, and was criticised by former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen for taking his bike with him on an England tour of New Zealand. Prior is the co-owner and chief executive of One Pro Cycling, with the cycling team racing at the UCI Continental level in 2015. and were promoted to the second-tier Professional Continental level for 2016.

11. Philanthropy:

From an early age, Prior showed commitment to charitable causes and has never shied away from taking part in matches and events in the name of charity.

12. Personal life:

He is married to Emily, the daughter of former footballer Sammy Nelson who played for Arsenal F.C. and Brighton & Hove Albion. The couple has a son named Jonathan who was born early 2009 and a daughter born on 27 June 2015.