England must support Jos Buttler after tough time as wicketkeeper, says Matt Prior

Alec Stewart says Ben Foakes ready to step up if England decide to make a change behind the stumps

Buttler is under pressure for his place from Ben Foakes

Buttler dropped two catches and missed a stumping during the tourists' first innings in Manchester, with two of those incidents coming when eventual Pakistan centurion Shan Masood was on 45.

"I feel for Jos - it's a horrible place to be but England need him to come out of it," said Prior, who played 79 Tests between 2007 and 2014

"But it's not just one guy. If one guy is struggling, the wicketkeeper is struggling, the team have to stand up and say 'concentrate on your stuff, we've got this'.

"I watched Jos very closely [in this Test] and he's in that place, which I unfortunately have experience of myself, where you question your own game.

"A number of times you could see that Jos was looking at his hands, his gloves. I know that suddenly your gloves don't feel quite right, your posture is not right.

"You question everything rather than looking at what the match situation is and how you can help the bowler or captain or gee the fielders up which, as we know, is such a crucial role for a keeper.

"When you are battling behind the stumps, it is quite literally the worst place to be on the cricket pitch because you know that ball is coming to you.

"It's not like being a bowler where you can have a bad spell and then park at third man or a batsman who nudges to 20, gets out and goes to sit in the pavilion.

"As a wicketkeeper you are out there for seven hours and the ball will come to you so you have to find a way to not go too internal."

Alec Stewart, another former England wicketkeeper, agreed that Buttler's team-mates need to take the pressure off him.

"The other 10 players should understand that Jos is going through a really tough time," said Surrey's director of cricket.

"The last thing you want is to be tense, on edge and not wanting the ball to come to you because there is no hiding place for a wicketkeeper. If he has to also be the cheerleader for the team then you are asking too much.

"So someone in that group should go 'Jos, I will take over for a while and gee the troops up. You concentrate on catching the ball and staying relaxed'. ตารางบอล7m

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