\u201cAshes is my first priority not a game of golf and that\u2019s why I skipped it,\u201d says the English wicket-keeper Matt Prior. There were some doubts over his fitness as he had aggravated an Achilles problem during England’s 14-run win in the first Test at Trent Bridge. But he is now fit to take on the Aussies in the second test at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Prior gave a miss to a planned round of golf on Monday, and with just a three-day between the two matches, he believes that was a very good decision. He was quoted by Deccan Chronicle<\/strong> saying, “I think it was a bigger shock to me than anyone else, reading that I was a doubt for the second Test, I’m not.”<\/p>\n He added, “I feel completely fit and well. The Achilles thing, as I’ve said before, is purely a management thing and it feels good at the moment. The reason I didn’t play golf yesterday (Monday) was because I didn’t want to potentially put it under strain and get it inflamed or anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n He is ready to face this test of back to back Test matches after a day of rest. Prior was quoted by The Hindu<\/strong> saying, “It’s not because I’m a big injury doubt but I’m feeling good. Back-to-back Test matches is one thing that comes into play. You’ve got one full rest day. I would rather have my feet up to be honest. We’ve got a rest after this Test but it’s a quick turnaround. The other thing is we’ve spent a lot of time in the field, it’s pretty tense. A day off my feet was what was needed.”<\/p>\n Though cricket pundits have already made a prediction about the Ashes, that it\u2019s going to be a one-sided affair for England but Prior is not getting carried away by such talks and wants to keep his feet grounded. He believes that Australia has loads of potential to make a strong comeback and England are not underrating them at any circumstances. England are looking forward to winning the Ashes for the third time in a row but they know that innings like Ashton Agar and Brad Haddin won\u2019t make it easy for them.<\/p>\n English keeper was quoted by Times of India<\/strong> saying, “It was always going to be (a tight series) and that’s what we have prepared ourselves for. I think that’s one of the reasons we dealt with the situation so well and dealt with the game so well. We stayed calm and that was a lot to do with our preparation and what we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, “The Australians are fighters, they’re not going to lie down and die at any stage and we had to fight equally as hard, if not harder, to get ourselves in position to win the game and then go that one step further and actually win it.\u201d<\/p>\n “It’s going to be exactly the same this week and we’re steeling ourselves for that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAshes is my first priority not a game of golf and that\u2019s why I skipped it,\u201d says the English wicket-keeper Matt Prior. There were some doubts over his fitness as he had aggravated an Achilles problem during England’s 14-run win in the first Test at Trent Bridge. But he is now fit to take on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[7476,7946,1946,4978],"class_list":["post-15519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers","tag-ashes","tag-ashton-agar","tag-brad-haddin","tag-matt-prior"],"yoast_head":"\n