English and Sussex wicket-keeper, Matt Prior has opted out of the Champions League of cricket to be played in India in October. This has been a decision taken by him, in conjunction with the English board and the Sussex management, in order to give him a rest ahead of a really busy calendar. After the seven ODI series that England is in battle against the Aussies, the team participates in the Champions Trophy, which will be followed by the Champions League and the English tour to South Africa. The tour will end in February.
This hectic schedule means that the only month that he will be on a break would be in October, which also coincides with the Champions League. His county, Sussex, had qualified for the mega-bucks tournament, the Champions League, by entering the finals and then beating Somerset in the finals of the English domestic T20.
Hugh Morris, the ECB’s managing director thanked Sussex for understanding the position of the ECB.
In other Champions League news, Marcus Trescothick has provided some good news for Somerset, by agreeing to tour India for the tournament. Earlier, there had been question-marks over his inclusion in the side, after he had suffered from the stress-related illness and retired from international cricket. He hasn’t toured a single country after the 2007 edition of the Ashes, when he had had to fly back at the very start of the tour because he could not handle his illness.