Prior

Ian Chappell has laid into Matt Prior, suggesting that he has no future at Test level. While it's always good to give players an extended run in the side, I probably agree with him which is why I suggested that Nixon and Read should tour Sri Lanka.

Chappell reckons that you can't afford a keeper who regularly puts down chances and I think that's a given, but I'd also suggest that his batting isn't going to be up to it long-term. When he scored his hundred against the West Indies in the 1st Test there was a lot of excitement and we were all hopeful we'd found a Test batsman who could keep. But unfortunately, we've found a County batsman who can keep, which makes him a number 7 at best at Test match level.

Scarily it appears that Prior will still go to Sri Lanka though. Moores was quoted by the BBC as saying:

"He can look back on the summer and say he has a Test match average close to 40 and he's kept pretty well. He's made some mistakes but he's learning and he's getting better at this environment. The challenge is whether he becomes mentally stronger from this game. If he gets through Sri Lanka well then he can start to become one of those nuggety Test match cricketers that everybody wants."

The thing is that he's averaged 40 with the luxury of playing County bowling for 4 out of 7 Tests. We know he can play County bowling. But when he came up against genuinely good Test bowling against India he ended up with a real average of 18.3. The other thing is that the make-up of England's side is likely to be different in Sri Lanka with Flintoff or Bopara batting at 7, so we can afford to play someone who can catch and bat them at 8. So let's make that change now rather than go through the same umming and aaring as we did with Jones/Read. Read is probably good enough for 8, and he's certainly good enough for 9 if Broad plays and bats ahead of him. Nixon is good enough for either slot and as good a candidate for 7 as Prior. And I'd be surprised if they gave away one chance per 2 Test innings like Prior.