Image courtesy of: The Telegraph

“You need a bit of luck, and you can’t over-estimate how much that plays a part”

England vice-captain and wicketkeeper Matt Prior has announced that he is on a mission to score some runs in the upcoming Ashes series after lady luck refused to shine down on him during the last series, where he only scored 133 runs at a disappointing average of 19.

Just a few months before the Ashes series, Prior smashed a match-saving century in the third and final Test against New Zealand in Auckland in March to ensure the series finished as a 0-0 draw.

“You need a bit of luck, and you can’t over-estimate how much that plays a part,” Prior said. “At Trent Bridge I batted brilliantly, then toe-ended one straight to a bloke twice – when does that ever happen?

“You compare that with Auckland where the ball went off my lid, hit the stumps twice and the bails didn’t come off!

“You do sometimes just need that nick to fly through the gap rather than fly straight to the man.

“But just hang in, stay true to yourself – and it will turn round.”

Prior also sent out a chilling warning, stating that “someone is going to pay” when his luck does turn around.

“When it does turn round someone is going to pay,” Prior said. “When I get that opportunity, I am going to be very hungry to make it count.

“There are times when you are having a good patch that you get a bit lazy when you get to 50 or 60, and you take your eye off the ball a little bit, but the importance of me scoring runs down the order is not lost on me.

“Certainly if I get that opportunity I will be hungry.”

The England vice-captain was at a complete loss for words when trying to explain his horrendous performance with the bat in the last Ashes series.

“It is a strange one,” he said. “All summer I felt I was hitting the ball well.

“I haven’t changed anything technically; I haven’t stopped practising or working hard. If anything I am probably trying too hard.

“One of the dangers is you can suddenly start trying to reinvent the wheel, and you actually take away one of your strengths.

“Mine is positivity and the fact that I can put pressure on bowlers by being attacking, so I wouldn’t want to ever lose that.

“But you have to get it right – you can’t just go out and be reckless.”

However, he also noted that it was important to move on instead of continuing to dwell on the failures of the past.

“You want to do well and succeed – it is important – but the minute you start putting too much importance on it and losing sleep at night you are in trouble,” he said. “You have to make sure you put it to bed and go away and do other things.

“If you start beating yourself up away from the cricket ground it is going to take longer.”