Will Beer is determined to become a man for all formats for Sussex after receiving a “kick up the backside”.

Beer has established himself as a key one-day performer for the Sharks in recent seasons but has only made six Championship appearances since his debut in 2008.

His solitary four-day outing last summer came in the heavy defeat at Taunton and his hopes of further opportunities were dashed by the subsequent arrival of England spinner James Tredwell on loan.

Beer, who agreed a new one-year deal recently, admits Tredwell’s arrival was hard to accept initially but has since used it as motivation to ensure he cannot be discarded so easily in the future.

The 26-year-old from Crawley said: “It was hard to start with but I understood the reasoning behind it. I am pretty good at seeing the other side and although it was disappointing from my perspective it was probably the right move for the team.

“It gave me a little bit of extra motivation to get my own four-day skills in gear. It was probably the kick up the backside I needed.”

Beer turned in a series of man-of-the-match performances in front of the television cameras in the NatWest T20 Blast last season with a number of Sky pundits suggesting he needed to leave Sussex to gain more opportunities in first class cricket.

The leg-spinner insists he never really considered quitting the county he had been with since the age of ten but knows he needs to continue developing his game to achieve his ambitions.

He added: “The reason I signed is that A – I love the club and B – I can see myself breaking through into the four-day team.

“In the past there has been Mushy (Mushtaq Ahmed) or Monty (Panesar) in front of me but that is not the case anymore so I can see opportunities for myself. Hopefully I can keep progressing the way I have in white-ball cricket and take that into red ball cricket too.

“It is frustrating that I haven’t played as much red-ball cricket as I would have liked but it is up to me to force my way into the team. Everyone wants to play all three formats but only 11 can go out there in any one game.”

Tredwell’s decision to sign a new deal at Kent rather than moving to Sussex on a permanent basis means Beer is likely to be battling it out with Ashar Zaidi for spinning duties in the Championship team next season.

Zaidi probably has the upper hand as he has 11 first class centuries to his name and Beer knows he must continue to improve his batting while gaining more control with the ball if he is to strengthen his claims.

Beer said: “The problem is lots of grounds aren’t suited to spin, especially early in the season when so many games are played, so you have to contribute with the bat like (Scott) Borthwick or (Adil) Rashid do.

“You need to be able to make runs and then perhaps come into the game with the ball in the second innings. In the last couple of seasons I’ve made a real push with my batting so hopefully I can take that into next season as it would give me a better chance of being selected.

“I also need to work on my control and improving my economy rate so I can be relied on to do a holding job. It is about realising when to be a holding bowler and when to attack and I think I am coming to terms with that more having spoken to Mushy, Monty and Tredders over the years.”