Prior convinced he has a one-day future

From being England's wicketkeeper in all three formats, Matt Prior now only has his Test place after watching Craig Kieswetter hot-foot it into the limited-overs set up with considerable early success. But rather than bemoan his lot, Prior is determined to use his recent omission as an incentive to improve and is adamant he has a one-day future with his country.

The England selectors made no secret of the fact they were monitoring Kieswetter's development closely, but the speed of his promotion to the full side meant that in a matter of two weeks Prior was looking over his shoulder. Both played in the first two ODIs in Bangladesh earlier this year, with Prior retaining the gloves, but the writing was on the wall when Kieswetter was given the role for the final match in Chittagong.

He responded with a maiden hundred and was duly included the World Twenty20 squad, when he hit a Man-of-the-Match 63 in the final against Australia. Such was Kieswetter's impact that it was no surprise when Prior was overlooked for the current one-day squad, yet he has barely put a foot wrong over the last 12 months.

"Competition for places is very healthy and certainly all the time I've been in the England team there's been pressure with people watching your every move," Prior told Cricinfo. "Whoever has the role at any given time will be under pressure. That's international sport, but the nice thing for me is I know I've dealt with it before, handled it and come back stronger. I'm fine with the competition and pressure."

Prior, though, wouldn't be human if he wasn't feeling frustrated by the current situation. His ability with the bat has rarely been doubted, but in the earlier phases of his international career his glovework raised plenty of questions and drove some team-mates, notably Ryan Sidebottom on the 2007-08 tour of Sri Lanka, to distraction. Now he has made himself a high-quality keeper, but has been left out because his batting doesn't fit England's one-day model and couldn't even find a place in the Lions squad to face India A and West Indies A.

"It's a frustration because you want to be there but they've gone for a different balance with the wicketkeeper opening the batting and at the time I wasn't opening," he said. "That's fair enough and anyone knows that if you want two allrounders in the middle you can't have two keepers, that's pretty simple. Now it's down to me. I'm back opening in one-day cricket for Sussex, which I enjoy and it's the most natural spot for me, and I have a lot belief in my ability. Now I've got to score a lot of runs and keep knocking on the door."

Prior knows that it is vital he maintains his run-scoring form both in county cricket and when he resumes his England place for the Test series against Pakistan. He is using his international break to spend time on his batting, which took a back seat as the keeping improved, and to rest a damaged right hand. Prior isn't currently behind the stumps for Sussex - who also have Brendon McCullum and Andy Hodd in the Twenty20 team - but won't consider the thought of becoming a specialist one-day batsman. "Certainly not, I'm a batsman-keeper and that's my role," he said.

He takes immense pride in the development of his glovework which owes a huge amount to the tireless efforts of Bruce French, England's wicketkeeping coach, who can often be seen spending hours on the outfield with Prior especially on overseas tours. Ironically, one moment that showed how proficient Prior has become came in his last Twenty20 international, when he pulled off an outstanding leg-side stumping to remove Shoaib Malik in Dubai.

"When I first started working with Frenchy our goal was to be more than a regular keeper who catches the ball, actually to be someone who can make chances out of nothing," said Prior. "When things like that happen it feels good because of all the work. It doesn't mean I'm the finished article, I need to keep getting better, but I'm really happy with where by keeping is at."

He admits that being a wicketkeeper can be a lonely role with no one else to share the burden, but sees every challenge as a motivation to push himself harder. "It can be, there's only one keeper and you have to be one to understand what it's like," he said. "I think that's why I've enjoyed having Brendon McCullum at Sussex because we can have a proper whinge about how it's the toughest job in cricket. It probably isn't, but we like to think it is.

"But I've known that if I want to be the England keeper I have to be the best out there, and if someone comes in a does better I have to raise my game."