After four years of planning, swapping wicketkeepers on the eve of the World Cup would normally be greeted by dismay, and unhappy talk of yet another example of selectorial whimsy and uncertainty.

Funny what an Ashes victory can do.

The decision to restore Matt Prior to England's one-day squad for the World Cup has met with almost universally positive press.

There are a couple of reasons. Chief among them is the fact England's ruling Andocracy have earned the right to be trusted on such decisions.

Pretty much every major call they've made over the last 18 months - and many have been tough, hard-nosed judgements like this one - has been proved correct.

Bringing Jonathan Trott into the side, bringing Steven Finn into the side, taking Steven Finn out of the side, bringing Chris Tremlett in from the cold, trusting Tim Bresnan in the heat of Ashes battle. All big decisions. All correct.

But if there is one blind spot in the Andy Flower regime - surprising given his role as a player - it's been the one-day keeper.

Neither Craig Kieswetter nor Steve Davies grasped the chance, leaving England going back to the Test gloveman at the last second.

And here's the second reason why the decision has been backed: it's the right one. Up to a point.

Prior is - and here's a sentence that two years ago could only have been written by a crazy person or a member of Matt's immediate family - clearly the superior keeper and, as Flower euphemistically noted when saying he fits in with England's aggressive fielding unit, the bigger and louder presence behind the stumps.

He's also the better batsman, with Davies' tendency to hit the ball in the air towards cover fielders proving a flaw easy enough for even an Australian captain to spot and target successfully.

Prior, meanwhile, has over the last year significantly improved his one-day batting, becoming less predictable in his strokeplay and less reliant on the offside.

His perceived inability to maneouvre the ball around against the spinners is also overplayed.

It's the right decision, albeit one that would ideally have been made earlier. But I wouldn't be using him at the top of the order.

England have spent the last decade under various regimes maddeningly wedded to the notion that the wicketkeeper must open the batting in one-day cricket.

It's hard to know why this should be the case, but as usual we shall blame the Australians and, specifically, Adam Gilchrist for spoiling things for everyone else.

My fear is that Prior, even acknowledging his recent improvements as a limited-overs batsman, does not hit the ball straight enough to take advantage of the powerplay overs and would be better deployed as a genuine international-class batting option at six or seven where currently a place is being wasted by the enthusiastic but ultimately pointless labrador puppy Luke Wright.

Ian Bell is the man to open alongside Andrew Strauss. He hits over the top as well as any England player bar Kevin Pietersen and is no longer intimidated by any bowler in world cricket. A top three of Strauss, Bell, Pietersen also gives England's three players most capable of batting 50 overs to matchwinning effect the chance to do so.

England's other key batsman, Eoin Morgan, is a different case. He is perhaps the best one-day finisher since Michael Bevan and revels in his role at five or six. Bell would be wasted there.

England Squad: Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wk), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.

Tickers' England XI: Strauss, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Morgan, Prior, Yardy, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson.