'Emotional' England in danger, warns Prior

Former Test wicketkeeper Matthew Prior says the current crop of England players are getting too "emotional" and in danger of falling into the same trap as the whitewashed 2013-14 side.

Prior, who was thrust back into the Magellan Ashes spotlight pre-series by Nathan Lyon when the Australia spinner claimed Prior had wanted to "fly home" before the third Test, said he saw warning signs coming from Joe Root's team.

"Last time I was in there and in the bubble, in all the angst and emotion of the whole Ashes series and it all going wrong. Now I'm sat on my couch watching it and you can just see things that are so obvious and you want to shout and scream over to the guys 'Don't fall into that trap again'," Prior said on BBC radio.

"For us (in 2013-14) there was mad panic after the Gabba Test match. We literally never recovered from that first innings at the Gabba.

"We worked harder, we put more pressure on ourselves, got more intense and the panic just continued.

"The panic was, 'Hold on a minute, this has not gone to plan, what are we going to do to make it right?'

"Your reaction is to work harder, get in the nets longer, put more pressure on yourself because you don't want to lose.

"Now you hear the stories coming out from Australia, like Alastair Cook having extra net sessions."

Prior said England had been outplayed on and off the pitch by Australia, which had forced Root and England into "bad decisions".

"One of the main things is how Australia play the game so well off the pitch," Prior said. "They really know how to plant things, feed things into the press etcetera etcetera.

"They make the series very, very emotional. You look at how much talk has there been about the cricket. There's been Jonny Bairstow, Stokes, these things are all off the pitch.

"All they're trying to do is get into the England heads, the players, press, supporters, everyone, and make it emotional.

"What's reason for that? You make bad decisions ultimately when you make them based on emotion."

Prior's sentiments tied in with those of Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan.

“You get a sense that the wheels have come off,” Vaughan said of England while commentating for BT Sport during yesterday’s second session. It all seems so frantic.”

Prior claimed England players were "rightfully upset" at sledging from Australia over the first two Test matches, with Australia taking a 268-run lead into day four on Tuesday.

"There's a lot that's gone on that I think the England players are quite upset about, and rightfully from what I've heard," the 79 Test veteran said.

"There's been a lot of chat on the pitch that hasn't got anything to do with cricket and frankly shouldn't be on a cricket pitch, stuff that hasn't come out, for various reasons."

Australia captain Steve Smith was asked before the Adelaide Test if he could "hand on heart say at the Gabba Test match nothing was said that he wouldn't want to be picked up on the stump microphones or even be happy for another team to direct at your players" to which Smith responded: "I think everything was fine. It was played in good spirit.

"As I've said previously, there's a line there that we're not to cross. I thought we played the game in good spirit, I've got no issues there."

England captain Root took umbrage as Smith's laughter in the press conference after the Gabba Test, saying: "If that's not motivation to the players I don't know what is. Seriously. Hopefully that will work massively in our favour."

Smith later clarified he was laughing at Test debutant Cameron Bancroft's deadpan explanation of his encounter with Bairstow in a Perth bar.

Prior said he didn't believe players from either side would be put off by "simple sledging".

"When I mentioned the emotion, you have to be better than that. Simple sledging doesn't really work on these top international players," Prior said on the BBC.

"Alastair Cook is not going to be affected by sledging, Steve Smith, Warner, these guys have seen it, they've done it.

"So therefore you have to go deeper if you want to try and get a reaction and say something that's going to be pretty fiery and potentially personal."

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21