Matt Prior

Rumour has it that there'll be an announcement soon of Matts retirement from cricket.
It'll be a sad day for Sussex when it comes.

I'm surprised it's taken this long, TBH. The plus side is that there should be a good deal of slack in the salary budget "going forward" (god, I hate that expression!)

If this happens, I would imagine it would be unprecedented in first class cricket, to lose three of your squad, while in their prime, since the start of the season. It may perhaps be a bit premature to include Mills in the trio, but it's difficult to see how his condition could improve enough to allow him to play red ball cricket again. It's sad for the players, deprived of their livelihood, and sad for Sussex, that what was looking like a promising season, has been completely undermined by these announcements. I will miss Mattie Prior, for me he summed up the resurgence of Sussex cricket, and it will be very strange to longer see him around the place.

Well of course, RHB was the first to announce his retirement, and yes, like Prior, it wasn't entirely unexpected. Until those players actually make the decision to quit though, it's difficult to plan ahead. Robbo was talking about Rory having a big part to play in the one day side until just before he announced he was quitting. Likewise with Prior, Robbo has stated that he envisaged that Prior would have the role of finisher in our T20 side, batting at five. Mills was seen as a bowler who could bring the pace to our attack that we lost when CJ joined up with England. 
I agree that this unfortunate series of injuries has given opportunities to some of the younger players. In fact, it's the form of those younger players that has given me the most pleasure this season. Would those youngsters have forced their way through anyway, who knows. We certainly would have been a lot stronger with a fully fit Prior, Mills and RHB. In all honesty, there's been enough disappointing performances from some of the seniors, to believe that the youngsters would have been given their chance anyway

Very, very sad news. I wish him well.

BREAKING NEWS: Sussex's Matt Prior has announced his retirement from all forms of professional cricket with immediate effect


www.sussexcricket.co.uk/news-1/prior-sussex-s-matt-prior-announces-retirement-from-cricket

Sad but inevitable and the best of luck to Matt Prior with his cycling initiative; it has been pretty clear over the last year that is where his true passion now lies, anyway.

From Sussex's point of view, sad as it is to see a great player retire earlier than he might have done, the club has to look forward - and a very substantial chunk of the playing budget has now been freed up...