Steve Harmison believes Sussex's Matt Prior has got a raw deal' from the England selectors.

Prior is the leading run-scorer in the country after making 133 not out against Harmison's Durham on Sunday.

But he was left out of the squad for the one-day series against New Zealand later this month despite scoring 884 runs in all cricket this season, including three Championship centuries.

Harmison, who took seven wickets including a hat-trick to sentence Sussex to their first home defeat since 2004, was on the receiving end of Prior's flashing blade.

Prior struck him for successive sixes to reach his hundred before launching him over the sightscreen as he plundered 55 runs in ten overs with tail-enders Corey Collymore and Jason Lewry.

Harmison said: "I personally feel Matt Prior got a raw deal from England and I think he he can count himself unlucky not to be in the one-day squad.

"We have a big blame culture in this country and when we lost the series to India last summer pundits and ex-cricketers gave him a kicking when he was down. It is something I have experienced and it's not pleasant. But he's in fine form and on Sunday he played two types of innings if you like.

"He rode his luck a bit early on when I bowled at him in my first spell.

"He wafted at a few deliveries and could easily have nicked a couple but he knuckled down, built a platform and then he exploded.

"The sixes he hit off me weren't bad balls. I was bowling at a decent pace and he played some proper cricket shots. He hit a slower ball which was in the right area over the sightscreen which showed he is in decent touch."

Like Prior, Harmison is desperate to win back his England place and his performance against Sussex was one of the best by an opposition bowler at Hove for years.

As well as recording the first hat-trick there since 2001, he consistently got disconcerting lift out of a typically slow wicket to trouble Sussex's batsmen.

He said: "We have played some good sides in division one - Sussex haven't lost at home for four years which suggests they are a strong outfit too - so I'm not doing it against mugs.

"Obviously it is nice to get a hat-trick and I have been fortunate to get two in my career. Rory Hamilton-Brown is a decent batter who got runs in the first innings and Robin Martin-Jenkins must be one of the strongest No. 8s in first-class cricket. If you get those two you fancy yourself to get Mushtaq Ahmed out and it was nice because it set up a fantastic win.

"I believe I am the best 90mph bowler in England and I have been getting my pace back up in the last few weeks. I have also got decent consistency and I think I'm going in the right direction. Things are going nicely for me and they have been all season.

"If the selectors want someone to take wickets then they know where I am. But I'm not worrying about England, they know what I can do at my best. It is up to them to decide whether I warrant a place in their set up.

"All the guys who are on the fringes like Owais Shah, Rob Key, Matt Prior, Matthew Hoggard and me have got to be performing well when the call comes."

Durham only finished 4.5 points behind Sussex last season and Harmison says victory over the champions will make their first division rivals take notice.

He added: "I feel that we comprehensively beat Sussex. We made all the running and it took a magnificent innings by Matt Prior to make any sort of game of it.

"Not many teams come here and two individuals get hundreds against Mushtaq so we can be proud of that too."

Prior, captaining Sussex in the Championship for the first time, admitted Harmison's contribution was decisive.

He said: "Steve was the difference. He is an international-class performer and when someone is bowling at 90mph and getting it up towards your throat or just below that is hard to deal with."