Skipper Chris Adams is desperate to bring success to Sussex.

But the county's captain admitted on the eve of the new season that his desire to play for his country again is just as strong.

It has been just over a year since Adams returned home from the tour of South Africa, his international career seemingly over after some disappointing performances.

Adams averaged just 13 in the series and his perceived weakness outside off stump when going toe to toe with top quality performers like Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock as well as England's subsequent revival suggest the Sussex skipper, who turns 30 in three weeks' time, will not get the opportunity to add to his five Test appearances.

But while England have got their act together in Test cricket in the last year, they are still searching for a successful formula in the limited overs game and that is where Adams, still recognised as one of the best one-day batsmen in the country, could have a part to play.

He believes England should adopt the same approach as world champions Australia, who have virtually picked two different squads for the forthcoming tour of England, one for the five-match Ashes series and another for the triangular one-day tournament, which also involves Pakistan, in June.

Although England bolstered their squad at the end of the winter tour of Sri Lanka with some one-day specialists, the side still looked desperately tired after a gruelling Test series as they slumped to a convincing 3-0 defeat in the subsequent one-dayers at the end of last month.

Adams said: "Those three one-day games looked like three too many at the end of the tour. A lot of the guys looked extremely tired which is not surprising after such a hard-fought Test series.

"It appeared as if most of the guys had no fuel left in the tank. If we had had 11 fresh players performing as if it was their first game then I think we would have done slightly better.

"I have seen how successful it has been for Australia and I definitely think we should consider picking two teams, one for the Tests and the other with our best one-day cricketers and I still regard myself as one of them."

Adams accepts that the only way for him to catch the selectorial eye again is by scoring a stack of runs in the first few weeks of the summer. The one-day squad is likely to be chosen in the first week of June, ahead of the opening match in the triangular series against Pakistan under the Edgbaston floodlights on June 7.

By then Sussex will have played at least five Benson and Hedges Cup ties as well as three National League fixtures so Adams will have had plenty of opportunities to stake a claim.

"I see one or two names are starting to emerge again when people consider the one-day squad, guys like Mark Butcher and Darren Maddy who were in South Africa with me," said Adams.

"It seems like there is a cooling off period for players who have been left out of the international set-up before the cycle starts all over again in the press."

Adams worked tirelessly in Australia during the winter, both on his personal fitness and tightening up his technique.

"On ordinary English pitches, where the ball seams around a lot, a lot of our batsmen play with their front pad," he said. "In Australia I worked hard on trying to play in front, to trust my technique and hit the ball straight.

"I have always been regarded as a strong off-side player, but in Australia they accepted me as a leg-side player and that is the way I will continue to play."

He was only facing Northamptonshire's modest attack during Sussex's pre-season tour of Grenada, but Adams can seldom have batted better for the county than he did in one of the warm-up games when his 79 off 70 balls was full of meaty straight drives and effortlessly timed clips through square.

Conditions will be a lot different at New Road on Wednesday when Sussex start their Championship campaign against Worcestershire, but Adams has never been short of self-belief which is no bad thing. If no one else is going to bang the drum on his behalf then why shouldn't he do it himself?

"I still feel I am good enough to play for my country again. I feel in great shape, I am hitting the ball well and if I can get off to a good start then who knows?

"I am enjoying England's success and I am especially pleased for Duncan Fletcher. He has worked tremendously hard with the team and deserves a lot of credit."