Matt Prior believes being on the end of Shane Warne's sledging will help him become a better player.

Warne was accused by Sussex skipper Chris Adams of trying to humiliate, Prior during the Championship match against Hampshire.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was twice dismissed by the legendary leg-spinner and admits his first innings demise, when he was lbw for just four, came after he allowed Warne and fellow Australian Simon Katich's verbals to get under his skin.

But the 23-year-old believes he will be better prepared if his dream of facing Warne and company in the Ashes series later this summer comes true.

He said: "I will 100 per cent admit that Warne and Simon Katich got under my skin in the first innings.

"I came out of my bubble and got out and I was so disappointed with the way I reacted.

"In the second innings I got done by a great piece of bowling but I was much happier with the way I handled the mental side of things."

Adams thought Warne had over-stepped the mark. He said: "Playing hard on the field is fine by me but to try and publicly humiliate young players in the opposition is disappointing."

Prior is trying to turn the experience into a positive. He wasn't the first player to be sledged by an opponent and he won't be the last but he regards being singled out for special attention by such high-profile opponents is a compliment of sorts.

Prior's profile has increased dramatically this winter after he made his England one-day debut against Zimbabwe in November and enjoyed a successful A tour to Sri Lanka last month. That clearly hadn't gone un-noticed by Warne and Katich.

Prior added: "I spoke to (umpire) Ian Gould and James Kirtley and they both told me to treat it as a back-handed compliment.

"It was good experience and you need to go through that sort of thing because it helps prepare you for what might happen on the bigger stage.

"If I'm making my Test debut one day in front of a full house and there are 11 of them doing that and you can't handle it you are going to struggle.

"I was happy that they did come hard at me. Now I know I can deal with it and I will use the experience as a positive."

It looks as if he will have to wait to add to his solitary England appearance after coach Duncan Fletcher told him he would have to bide his time.

Fletcher spoke to Prior when he visited Hove last week and revealed that Kent's Geraint Jones will start the international summer against Bangladesh next month.

"We had a chat about Zimbabwe in November and the A tour," said Prior. "He said I was next in line but they are going to start with Geraint which I completely expected.

"He told me I was in their thoughts but I can put that to bed for now until I hear otherwise. In a way I was relieved. Now I know my priority now is doing well for Sussex. That's all I'm thinking about at the moment."

Prior is expected to figure among the inaugural squad of England development, players which Fletcher will announce in the next few days.

The England management are allowed to place up to 25 players under Fletcher's direct control. Of those, 12 are already on full-time England contracts. The remainder will stay on their counties' payroll but Fletcher will have the power to pull them out of county games for England training camps or specialist coaching sessions.

As well as showing genuine improvement in his wicket-keeping, Prior has already made a Championship half-century this season and 74 in his first one-day innings on Sunday when Sussex squeezed past Derbyshire by two runs in the totesport League.

Those runs came off 111 balls which was slower than usual by his recent standards But he is trying to make a conscious effort to build some momentum to his innings rather than go for big shots straight away.

He said: "The wicket was seaming around all day but where I have improved in one-day cricket is that before I would get to 30, 40 or even50 and then do something ridiculous. On Sunday I realised when Ian Ward got out that it was important to start building another partnership with Mike Yardy and take as few risks as possible.

"A year or two ago I would have probably got out, it's just risk management I suppose and comes with experience."