Mature Prior makes his mark

Matt Prior punishes a short delivery on the way to a splendid first-day century

Matt Prior believes his England ups and downs have made him a wiser cricketer - and that is how it looked as he batted maturely today for his 17th first-class hundred.

The wicketkeeper-batsman displayed all his usual fluency in an innings of 131 which bailed out champions Sussex, after they had descended to 74 for six on the first morning against LV County Championship Division One leaders Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Prior, 26, has twice been in the England fold, only to be discarded - with his former Sussex team-mate Tim Ambrose currently preferred.

But he believes he will only get sidetracked from making runs and taking catches if he allows thoughts of trying to win back his place to dominate too much.

“I learned from the experience when I went out to Pakistan and India (in 2005/06) with the England squad and then was left out for the summer,” he said after helping Sussex to 277 all out.

“I spent that summer chasing the England team, trying to get back in - and it didn’t really work. I didn’t have a great year.

“All I can control is doing well for Sussex and trying to put in match-winning performances for Sussex. If I can do that, the other stuff might come.”

Prior, who has passed 500 first-class runs for the summer, certainly did his bit this time, despite the hairline fracture to his right middle finger suffered in last week.

Chris Read watches Prior pierce the off-side field as Sussex mount a brave fightback at Trent Bridge

“It’s sore but it’s not going to do any more damage,” he said. “It’s a bit annoying - but it’s not hindering me in any way.”

As for his outstanding form with the bat, Prior is confident - but taking nothing for granted.

“I’ve been really happy with how the season has started, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead,” he predicted.

“Runs, wickets, catches - that is the currency we deal with - and I just want to keep getting them.”

It was an unaccustomed early trip to the crease this morning for a man used to waiting a while behind Sussex’s prolific top five.

But they all failed, and it was down to Prior, who hit 19 fours in his 174-ball innings, to save a day which finished with Notts 46 for two.

“It was quite weird, because I looked up and saw we were batting - then the next thing I saw we’d lost a few wickets, and suddenly I was out there,” he said.

“In that situation, you think ’okay, I’ve got the whole day to bat here’ - and that’s kind of how I wanted to set out the day.

“It was obviously doing a bit early on, but I knew the longer I played the easier it would get.”