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Prior delighted to have defied his early critics

Matt Prior believes he can take his batting average above 50 © Getty Images

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England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has admitted he considered hanging up his gloves to focus solely on his batting during a difficult time early in his England career.

The 29-year-old is now frequently mentioned among the very best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world, but his career with the Test side has not always been smooth sailing. He was dropped from the tour of New Zealand in 2008 after a poor display with the bat in Sri Lanka the year before, and has now acknowledged that experience led him to question his priorities in the game.

Having undergone what he calls a "character assassination" in the media after first breaking into the Test side, Prior worried he was too mentally fragile for someone who needed to concentrate behind the stumps for days at a time.

"I never thought I didn't belong at this level but I did think about knocking keeping on the head and playing just as a batter," Prior admitted to the Daily Mail. "Certainly when I was dropped after the tour to Sri Lanka. People were saying I would never play for England again, that's it. In my first few games for England I would stand in the field for six-and-a-half hours absolutely c****ing myself. I would just say to myself, 'Please don't drop the ball'.

"It was such an awful feeling and at the end of each day I was absolutely shattered. It was no way to carry on. I wasn't giving myself the best opportunity to succeed. And because of that I wasn't helping the team."

Prior is now an instrumental part of the new No. 1 ranked Test side in the world, but he believes the difficult early years have done more for him as a player than the wildly successful last 18 months - which have included another Ashes win and the current demolition of India. Those initial international experiences still serve as his inspiration to get better.

'It's not the good times that make you the player and person you are, it's the bad times," he said. "I got a ridiculously rough time when I first came into the England team. I got chewed up and spat out.

"A lot of people have said nice things in the last few weeks and that's awesome. It's a pleasure to be part of this dressing room, being with players with so much skill and ability. I feel we could go to any part of the world now and have the tools to win. That's a phenomenal feeling.

"I want to be part of this for as long as I possibly can and the only way to do that is to keep getting better."

That's why Prior is determined to elevate his already impressive averages with the bat, and keep improving his technique with the gloves.

"Yes I average 45 but the best players average more than 50 and [former wicketkeeper-batsman, now England coach] Andy Flower averaged 53 when he played," Prior said. "He tells me there's a long way for me to go! [Coach] Mushtaq Ahmed is always saying, 'Set your goals high'.

"The next challenge is to see how good this team can be and there's no doubt we can go on to achieve some special things if we keep on working hard enough."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.