Wiggins and Sky team boost Prior

By Bruce Talbot

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior is taking tips from Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins as he prepares for a busy 12 months for county and country. Prior took up cycling last year when he discovered that it could help him manage an Achilles injury which had been troubling him for some time.

He regularly pedals around the South Downs and up Ditchling Beacon, which was one of the climbs when the Tour visited Sussex in 1994. But Prior has stepped up a gear this weekend by joining Wiggins, Chris Froome and members of the Sky cycling team in Majorca.

Prior said: "I have become completely addicted to cycling, it ticks every box. Just going to Majorca would have been brilliant because of the weather at home but to train with the Sky team is phenomenal.

"From a physical point of view cycling ticks every box. The transfer of what you do on a bike to wicketkeeping is very similar. There is not much difference in the muscle groups you use or the positions you get in and it has been brilliant with my Achilles."

After dinner with Sky team director Dave Brailsford on Thursday (January 31), Prior joined the Sky team in the Majorcan hills today.

Prior, meanwhile, is now the only Sussex player in the IPL auction after Monty Panesar's name was left off the 101 names submitted for the bidding process on Sunday. Prior has a reserve price of $200,000.

Sussex team-mate Luke Wright is already signed up for Pune Warriors and will miss the first seven weeks of the domestic campaign.


Date: 01/02/2013 13:34:18 by Bruce Talbot
In: Today | Sussex | England |