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Lord's window break was freak accident: Prior

Last updated on: June 10, 2011 12:25 IST

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has insisted that he did not break the Lord's dressing room window during the second Test against Sri Lanka deliberately, saying the incident was a "freak accident" and he felt "stupid" about it.

The 29-year-old was run out for 4 on the final day of the drawn match and landed in a controversy after a window in the dressing room was shattered, leaving a spectator in the members' area with minor cuts from the broken glass.

Prior was merely reprimanded by the ICC after the incident and the wicketkeeper also played it down.

England's Matt Prior is seen in the dressing room near the window that he broke after the second cricket test match between England and Sri Lanka"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," Prior told London Evening Standard.

- Scorecard

"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," he added.

Prior asserted that he was not angry and did not throw his gear around.

"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," Prior recalled.

"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," he explained.

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

"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," he said.

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