Name	Matt Prior
Height	5 ft 11 in
Naionality	English
Date of Birth	26-February-1982
Place of Birth	Johannesburg, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Famous for	Cricketer

Matt Prior is an English One Day International (ODI) and Test cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Sussex. He is a wicket-keeper, and his aggressive right-handed batting enables him to open the innings in ODI matches. With an international Test debut score of 126, Prior became the first English wicket-keeper to hit a century in his debut match in early 2007. His glovework, however, was criticised. Despite a successful tour of Sri Lanka with the bat, Prior's keeping was less successful, and he was dropped from the team for the 2008 tour of New Zealand.

He returned for the 2008 series against South Africa, and was retained into 2009, where he became the second fastest England keeper to reach 1,000 Test runs, behind Les Ames. Prior made his One Day International debut in England's one-day series against Zimbabwe in 2004: he was chosen to open with Ian Bell and made 35 before he was dismissed by Ed Rainsford in a 74-run win. Prior has been on three tours with the England A team, in 2003/4, 2004/5 and 2006/07. He was also selected as back-up wicket-keeper to Geraint Jones. He made 45. Having played in all five ODI's of the series, he was also named in the squad for the tour to India that followed and played in six ODI's, opening the batting in four of them. Prior remained in the One Day side until he was left out for the ODI squad for the tour to Sri Lanka, in favour of Phil Mustard (but remained in the Test side). Batting at number six, Prior continued his good form with the bat into the Ashes series, scoring a 62-ball 56 in the first innings at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff as England's middle- and lower-order boosted England to 435 all out, and 14 in the second innings as England held on for an improbable draw. In the Lord's victory Prior was bowled for 8 in the first innings as England subsided from 302 for 3 (Andrew Strauss 161) to 425 all out, but contributed a 42-ball 61 in the second innings as England sought quick runs; his partnership with Paul Collingwood added 86 runs in twelve overs. At Edgbaston he scored 41 in England's only innings in a drawn match, and held three catches in each of Australia's innings. Despite suffering from back spasms before the start of the first day, raising doubts as to his fitness to play, Prior offered a lone hand in the first innings at Headingley, scoring 37 not out as England subsided to 102 all out against Australia's seam attack; Prior aside, only Alastair Cook (30) reached double figures.

He added a 29-ball 22 in the second innings, sharing a century partnership with Stuart Broad, but could not avert an innings defeat. At the Oval Prior scored only 18 and 4, but produced a sharp stumping on the final day to dismiss Marcus North as England surged to a 197-run victory in the match and a 2–1 victory in the series, thus regaining the Ashes. Prior's series aggregate of 262 runs was higher than any other England player bar Andrew Strauss; his runs had been scored at a Gilchrist-esque strike-rate of 82 per hundred balls.

Prior was ever-present in the Test side in England's successful 2010–11 Ashes Series in Australia. He started the series with a golden duck, the second victim of Peter Siddle's hat-trick on the first day of the series. He only managed a top-score of 27 not out in the first three Tests; however he finished strongly in the final two. In the fourth Test at the MCG, he held six catches in Australia first innings as they were bowled out for just 98. He followed this up with 85 runs as England won by an innings to take a 2–1 series lead and retain the Ashes with a Test to spare. In the fifth and final Test he scored his first century against Australia from 109 balls, the fastest English Ashes century since Ian Botham's 118 at Old Trafford in 1981.