Matt Prior cautions England against "too much back-patting too early"
Matt Prior, the England wicketkeeper, has cautioned his side against "too much back-patting too early" saying that they should not get carried away after crushing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 at Adelaide by single innings and 71 runs.
The tourists only need to draw the series to retain the urn while Australia would have to win the series to reclaim Ashes and Prior said that England learned its lesson about early celebrations in 2009 Ashes when the Aussies had fought back
in the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley to level the series 1-1 before Andrew Strauss’s men recovered to win the final Test at The Oval to win the second successive home Ashes series.
"You've got to be careful you don't fall into the trap of too much back-patting too early," Prior said. "We've played well, the tour's gone well so far, but it's all in the past now."
England is leading the series by 1-0 and are scheduled to play a tour game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Victoria-c859 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which gets underway on Friday, 10th of December. The third Test begins in Perth on December 16 but Prior
said that his side is looking no further ahead than the tour game.
"We've got a big game against Victoria coming up tomorrow and that's as far ahead as we'll look," said Prior. "You can fall into a trap if you start looking too far ahead."
Prior, who averages 27 in the ongoing Ashes series, has batted only twice in the opening two Test. In his first appearance with the bat during the series he scored a golden duck at Gabba as the birthday boy Peter Siddle stunned Strauss’s
armoury with a blistering first-day hat-trick while the second he was sent to the crease on the fourth day of Adelaide Test where he made an unbeaten quick 27 before England declared the first innings at 620 for 5. But in the three-day game against Bushranger,
Prior would play as batsman with back-up gloveman Steven Davies taking over his spot behind the stumps.
The tourists will play a second-string pace attack in tomorrow’s game after Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the remaining Ashes series due to an abdominal strain while James Anderson has flown home to attend the birth of his second child.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489, Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett are in line to replace injured Broad in the Perth Test.
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