Matt Prior was wrong but I understand his pain

For a start, having seen the extent of the damage and the size of the hole in the window, it is nothing short of miraculous that only one of the members sitting directly below was slightly injured. I shudder to think what might have happened on another day, all through one moment of petulance.

But my concern runs deeper than merely whether it is any longer safe to sit below an England balcony these days but to the frustration and atmosphere that was the cause of Prior's ire in the first place.

Let us not forget that Prior scored a superb hundred in England's first innings. It was typically belligerent and, crucially, played at the aggressive rate that the situation required.

Prior strikes me as being an entirely selfless cricketer and his most important contributions have come when there has been a need to score quickly and take the attack to the opposition.

However, behind the wickets he had a nightmare - and not through his fault, either. England's wayward bowling had him diving all over the place and there was also the added complication of the ball regularly swinging and dipping after it had bounced. He conceded 25 byes in Sri Lanka's first innings and knew, as all wicketkeepers would, that this would attract unfavourable comment.

Michael Vaughan had breakfast with Prior during that innings and reported how frustrated and aggrieved Prior was feeling. In other words, he was already boiling up inside long before he and Ian Bell were involved in the mix-up that led to Prior being run out in the second innings for only four.

I was commentating on Test Match Special and called it as Prior's fault because Bell was down on one knee, having played the sweep shot, and would not have had time to get up and take the quick run to the other end.

Given that the ball had travelled in front of Bell, it was also technically his call. I noticed how Prior dropped his bat as he stormed away from the crease and, tellingly, how he and Bell did not exchange a glance, let alone a word of support or sympathy. In fact, each looked the other way as Prior passed. It struck me as being thoroughly unhealthy. Moments later came the sound of shattering glass as Prior's
bat somehow made contact with the window.

In my experience, there is often an air of tension in the dressing room when your team are trying to set up a declaration against the clock.

Players tend to focus on how the batsmen in the middle are playing: are they doing enough? Are they prepared to put the team first and possibly sacrifice their wicket for the greater good?

Should the captain declare now? That sort of thing. Inevitably, there is often the feeling from the others that the batsmen should be pressing on more than they are, simply because that is the easy view to take from the dressing room - or press box for that matter. I suspect the combination of all of these frustrations led to Prior's indiscretion.

The only sympathy I can offer Prior is that I, too, think England should have been more positive on that final day at Lord's and will have to be so if they are to achieve their goal of being the number one team in the world rankings.

They can only get there if they are prepared to take a chance or two along the way and while that does not necessarily mean risking defeat, it does mean that the whole team must be prepared to play with Prior's unselfish attitude when the situation demands it.

As captain, Strauss must discover the confidence to declare earlier and give his bowlers more time to take the 10 wickets they need. He set the Sri Lankans 343 to win from 58 overs at Lord's. That worked out at six runs per over, with Sri Lanka's main batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan unable to hold a bat because he had a broken thumb.

Strauss could have bought himself another 10 overs at least because he knew that for England to take their first step towards his much publicised target of number one, they had to beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in this series to move up into South Africa's place at number two.

Obviously, with one Test left and the series standing at 1-0, that cannot happen now, leaving one to wonder if England really have the flair, the desire and the daring to reach the top of the ladder or whether they will continue to talk a good game and always remain a few rungs short.