Matt Prior wears the Three Lions again on Thursday a better player than when he last appeared for his country.

That is the view of Sussex captain Chris Adams, who has been impressed with the way Prior reacted to losing his England place.

It is almost a year since Prior made a spectacular introduction to Test cricket when he became the first wicketkeeper to score 100 on debut against West Indies at Lord's.

But despite playing in all ten Tests in 2007 and averaging 40.19 Prior lost his place after losing form with the gloves to former Sussex team-mate Tim Ambrose.

The Warwickshire player will be behind the stumps against New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's next week, but Prior's selection for England Lions against the tourists at the Rose Bowl, starting on Thursday, indicates that he is still on the radar of coach Peter Moores.

No one knows better than Adams how tough it can be to make the adjustment from international cricket back to the day-to-day grind of the county game.

He endured a tortuous time in 2000 after struggling in his only Test series in South Africa, culminating in much-publicised rows with Essex all-rounder Danny Law and umpire David Constant.

Prior admits he did some soul searching of his own after he had got over the shock of being dumped by England.

But he has reacted in just the way Moores would have wanted with some consistent early-season performances for Sussex.

He has scored half-centuries in his last four Championship innings and impressed with his wicket-keeping after making a couple of technical adjustments following criticism in Sri Lanka last winter that he struggled against left-arm bowlers.

Adams said: "County cricket challenges you in a different way and coming back and being as consistent as he has been is very difficult to achieve, especially with the schedule because he would have got used to the international scenario of playing for five days and then having five off to recover."

National selector Geoff Miller was at Hove last week to watch Prior make another composed half-century against Surrey and spoke to Prior before the start of play.

"It's a shame the selectors haven't watched Matt for the last two or three games because they would have seen a player who is definitely better than when he went off to play for England a year ago," said Adams.

"He's batting with the sort of calmness Mark Ramprakash seems to have found in the latter stages of his career.

"In the past Matt was guilty of starting in fourth gear but now he's got a process which has turned him into a quality performer."

Who knows when Prior might get another chance for England, although his selection for the Lions ahead of Phil Mustard, who went with Ambrose to New Zealand to play in the one-day series, suggests he might have overtaken the Durham man in the pecking order.

Prior did little at the start of the season to dampen down speculation that he might give up wicketkeeping altogether and concentrate on winning back his England place as a specialist batsman, but Moores has told him to concentrate on both facets of his game.

"It's for Matt to guage whether his wicketkeeping has improved," said Adams. "It's hard for me to judge because I've got no memory of him being a bad keeper.

"When he played in the Tests against India last year he was unfairly criticised for dropping a couple of catches. But as long as his preparation, attitude and mental focus remains as good as it is at the moment he won't make many mistakes at all.

"At his age (26) good players discover that they can go to another level and Matt is really well placed to do that.

"What he's got to make sure is that he doesn't allow the grind of county cricket from delivering his best as a batsman, keeper or as a person in the dressing room."

Sussex team-mate Luke Wright is among his Lions' team-mates this week and Adams has mixed feelings about their call-ups.

"I just wonder what the selectors are going to see that they don't already know," he said.

"It is nice to be recognised but does it mean that if someone gets 100 or takes a five-for they are next man in?

"What they will be judged on is how they prepare and how they deal with success or failure. But they won't be doing themselves any harm if they do well. It is not ideal for us because we miss two of our key players for a couple of important one-dayers but it's nice to have players selected for their country."