Matt Prior hopes to take another step towards fulfilling his England dream tomorrow.

The squad for the winter tour to South Africa is announced at Lord's and there is increasing speculation that the Sussex wicketkeeper-batsman could go as understudy to Geraint Jones.

Ironically, Prior feels that forgetting about playing for his country has helped him produce the best form of his career in recent weeks. But it will not stop him keeping half an eye on the television tomorrow morning.

He said: "I'm very ambitious and one of my goals is to play for my country.

"But at the moment thinking about that is not a priority, I don't want to do anything to detract me from doing my best for Sussex."

Prior is 29 runs short of scoring 1,000 in first-class cricket for the second season running after making 93 in the county's Championship win over Worcestershire.

But it is the improvement in his wicketkeeping since he took over the gloves from Tim Ambrose last month which has given him more satisfaction.

"People were quick to criticise my keeping in the past but I have worked hard on all aspects of it and at the moment I feel as if I'm keeping better than any stage in my career."

Prior's performance against Worcestershire was praised by opposite number Steve Rhodes and umpire Ian Gould, both former England glovemen.

"That meant a lot to me," added Prior. "It was a tricky wicket to keep on, especially against Mushtaq. But the ball is going into the gloves well at the moment and I'm batting well too.

"In the past I haven't always done both well at the same time but I feel my overall game has gone up a couple of notches this season."

Nottinghamshire's Chris Read is favourite to tour South Africa as reserve wicketkeeper but Prior has his supporters among ex-players including former England captain Mike Atherton. His performance on last winter's England Academy tour was also praised by director Rod Marsh.

"We'll see what happens. It would be disappointing if I wasn't involved somewhere this winter but I love playing for Sussex and that's what I'm focusing on rather than putting pressure on myself thinking about England," added Prior. "I've made a huge effort to try and put that to the back of my mind."

Meanwhile, Prior admits his Sussex team-mates have not given up the possibility of making a successful defence of their County Championship title.

They face leaders Warwickshire at Edgbaston today (11am) still 49 points behind although they do have a game in hand.

But importantly, three wins out of four as well as a spurt up the totesport League table have given Sussex momentum at just the right time in the season.

"Who knows?" said Prior. "Suddenly there is a lot left in the season when we were being written off a few weeks back.

"I think our results have shown how hard we've worked to turn things around. We really enjoyed the win over Worcestershire but I sensed a real determination to go up to Edgbaston and put in a really good performance. We'll see where we are after this game.

"We're a long way behind but funnier things have happened and it's always better when you come from behind as we know from last season."

Sussex's squad includes Luke Wright who may replace off-spinner Mark Davis. Ian Bell returns for Warwickshire after making a successful England debut on Saturday.

Bell is unlikely to be on the plane to South Africa in November. But Prior just might be.