It was Ian Botham who used to empty the bars when he went out to bat.

At Hove yesterday, Matt Prior succeeded in filling them.

As the 25-year-old's sensational debut innings was beginning to take shape at Lord's, Sussex supporters in their droves headed for the pavilion or anywhere else with a TV set.

One of their own was making a dream start to his Test career with an unbeaten 126 and they were not going to miss a minute of it.

As Prior got closer to his hundred so the numbers crowding round the TVs at the County Ground grew.

The handful of spectators left huddling for warmth in the deckchairs, as a stiff breeze blew in from the sea, were either massochists or Surrey supporters.

It was a good job it was not the first day of the Test. The flat-screen in the Jim Parks Bar was not working properly on Thursday and club officials were scrambling around trying to get a signal.

At the home of cricket, Prior seemed to have tuned himself into the demands of Test cricket straight away.

He will be the first to admit that the situation in which he went out to bat for the first time at this level could not have been better.

Paul Collingwood had become the second player to make a hundred in England's first innings and when Prior walked through the long room and down the steps of the Lord's pavilion just after 3.30pm they were in a great position at 363-5.

Two hours and 20 minutes later, after he rocked onto the back foot and carved Chris Gayle's gentle off spin through point to the boundary he had become only the third wicketkeeper in Test history to make a hundred on debut. Not English Test history - Test history.

With Gayle at one end and West Indies' skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan tossing up his loopy leg breaks at the other, Prior had probably faced more demanding attacks during his Brighton College days.

But as he leapt into Ian Bell's arms in celebration that will not have bothered him one bit.

Back at Hove, members of the Players' Club - the group of Sussex supporters who pay a bit extra to enjoy closer access to the players - were crowded around TV sets in the sponsors' boxes on the scoreboard side and let out a throaty roar as the ball sped to the boundary.

The Jim Parks Bar was packed while Brian Smith, the steward who operates the gate at the bottom of the dressing room steps, seemed in an unusual hurry to usher the players off the field when the light got too bad for the Sussex batsmen.

No wonder. No one other than the man himself and his family will feel as much pride at Prior's achievement today than Brian.

The pair speak every matchday at Hove and, as a former wicketkeeper himself, Brian has never been short of a word of advice and encouragement, especially during Prior's formative years at Sussex.

As soon as the last of the players had wandered off, he was following them up the pavilion steps just as Prior reached 99 not out and was able to share the moment with the rest of the Sussex team in the dressing room.

Prior is not the first batsman from the county to score a Test hundred, although he is the first for more than 30 years since the days of Tony Greig.

But none of them will have have been so widely acclaimed back in the county.

Across the city at Brighton College, cricket master John Spud' Spencer had predicted that the youngster he first worked with as a 12-year-old was capable of establishing himself at Test level.

Earlier in the week, Spud was not sure whether he would be able to go to Lord's today. You can bet now that he will be on that Victoria train this morning.

There are the coaches and team-mates Prior has known in the Sussex set-up since he made his debut for the county as a 12-year-old and, since 2001, his team-mates on the professional staff.

No one will have felt more pride than Chris Adams, a captain who sees a bit of himself in the way Prior likes to strut his stuff, play his shots and dominate bowling attacks.

Carl Hopkinson is Prior's biggest pal in the dressing room. Was it mere coincidence that while his mate was Lording it, Hopkinson, who came out to start Sussex's second innings against Surrey on a king pair, stroked a lovely boundary down the ground?

At county level Prior can sometimes leave those same Sussex supporters crowded round the TVs yesterday exasperated when he plays one attacking shot too many and gets himself out. His early-season form left some wondering whether he might struggle to do himself justice at the highest level.

That could still be the case. But for now, his many admirers in Sussex might have to settle for the fact that they will be watching a lot more of Prior on their TV screens this summer than out in the middle for the county.

Now leave your own message of congratulations to Matt Prior.