Prior explains window incident at Lord's

(DAVID ASHDOWN)

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior accepted he felt "stupid" following an incident at Lord's in which a dressing room window was smashed.

The 29-year-old reacted angrily to being run out on the final day of the second Test against Sri Lanka and a window in the dressing room was shattered, with a spectator in the members' area suffering minor cuts from the broken glass.

England moved quickly to explain it was an accident - and captain Andrew Strauss insisted the case was closed, although the International Cricket Council nevertheless opted to reprimanded Prior, match referee Javagal Srinath telling the player he "should be more careful in future."

Prior revealed his embarrassment at the whole incident, telling the London Evening Standard: "Every time I looked up at the pavilion during Sri Lanka's second innings, I just saw this big broken window and I felt stupid more than anything else.

"When you make a scene like that, you're thinking, 'Oh no, what are people going to say?' It didn't look good, obviously, and I'd just been run out, but people were putting two and two together and coming up with five, seven, nine and 10.

"It wasn't a case of being angry that I'd got out. The situation of the game was to try to score as quickly as possible, so it wasn't like I was run out on 99. There wasn't any malice or anger in it at all.

"It's quite nice to be able to sit here and say, 'This is what went on.' It was a complete accident and there was no more or less to it than that.

"It looks awful, terrible: run out, then a smashed window, but it was a complete freak accident."

The 22-year-old student who was injured in the incident, Emma Baker, has also tried to draw a line under the series of events.

Prior maintained the window had "exploded" when he was returning his bat along with others in the dressing room.

He added: "It was more of a shock for everyone to hear a shatter of glass when you're not expecting it but thankfully nobody was injured.

"It's why I can laugh about it now - a freak accident that unfortunately happened."