It did not take long for Matt Prior to get over the disappointment of his England snub.

Three days after he was left out of the 25-man development squad, Prior made the second highest score in Sussex's Sunday League history as the Sharks eased to a comfortable victory over Warwickshire at Hove.

Prior's magnificent 144 underpinned a Sussex total of 283-7 which was always going to be too many on a pitch used a fortnight ago for the county's totesport League win over Derbyshire.

Showers twice interrupted Warwickshire's reply. The first left them with a daunting Duckworth/Lewis adjusted target of 264 from 40 overs, the second meant they needed an even more improbable 76 off the remaining 21 balls. Predictably they finished well adrift on 153-7, 45 runs short.

It had looked like being another uncomfortable afternoon for Sussex side yet to hit their straps this season when Dougie Brown took three wickets with the new ball after Chris Adams had won the toss.

Brown pinned both left-handers, Ian Ward and Mike Yardy, with deliveries which held their line before bowling Adams via an inside edge to leave Sussex 49-3. The afternoon might have turned out a lot differently had Jonathan Trott clung on one-handed diving to his right at slip when Prior, who had made just ten, slashed at Brown.

Instead the contest was utterly transformed by a stand of 209 in 29 overs between Prior and Murray Goodwin, the second-highest partnership for any wicket in the county's Sunday League history. A measure of their dominance was that 114 of those runs came in boundaries.

Prior's first 50 was scored at a relatively sedate pace off 68 balls but he raced to the second one-day hundred of his career from just 40 more deliveries, reaching his century with his 13th boundary.

Goodwin's contribution should not be overlooked either. There is a noticeable calmness about his batting so far this season which will surely be translated into a big score soon. As it was, his 79 off 76 balls with eight fours and a six was the perfect foil for his partner.

Warwickshire captain Nick Knight had turned to his eighth bowler by the 31st over but there was little he or they could do until the last four overs when Heath Streak claimed three wickets with well disguised yorkers, the first of which removed Prior whose runs were made off 134 balls and included a pulled six into the pavilion off Brown.

The Bears' reply was never allowed to get any sort of momentum. James Kirtley took two wickets with the new ball, including dangerman Knight who had made back-to-back hundreds in his last two one-day games.

Pinch-hitter Neil Carter (47) was the second of two victims in successive overs for Mushtaq Ahmed after the leg spinner had claimed the important scalp of Ian Bell.

Alex Loudon and Jim Troughton blazed away briefly either side of the cloudbursts but their side had been comprehensively outplayed.

May 10, 2005