ChrisAdams is a changed man. He is as patriotic as ever and desperate to represent his country again.

The difference is he has now pledged to play a more natural game following one-to-one sessions with England coach Duncan Fletcher. Sussex members who have seen Adams rip apart county attacks, particularly in one-day matches, will be surprised to learn he has been feeling inhibited.

Fletcher managed to coax a more relaxed approach out of Adams towards the end of his debut tour with England in South Africa.

"The bonus for me is that in the last two or three days, while I was out there I had some long and very good sessions with Duncan, during which we hit on something," Adams revealed.

"For the two years I have been at Sussex I have not quite felt 100 per cent about my own game. I feel I have been too mechanical, technical and coached.

"The last two sessions I had with Duncan were brilliant. For the first time in maybe two or three years I felt completely different. The pre-season I've had at Sussex has been almost un-nervingly too good for me confidence wise.

Adams averaged 13 in the five Tests in South Africa. He was dropped three matches into the one-day series after scoring 43 runs and flew home early when his young daughter was taken ill.

Plenty was made of his weaknesses at the highest level. Adams prefers to concentrate on his strengths. "In 1996 I was in superlative form and scored a lot of runs. In 1997 I tried to do the same and had a brilliant year in one-day terms, but all sorts of things were happening at Derbyshire then.

"I came here and tried to remember all the things I had done to change from a mediocre cricketer into a very good cricketer. I have tried for two years to hang onto that mechanical, technical kind of feel and I have lost the natural part of my game.

"Instead of trying to make myself something I am not I want to be something I am. I have good hands and good eye co-ordination and I have to accept my foot movement isn't going to be in the same class as, say, Michael Atherton.

"I have been working with Graham Gooch on my shot selection and making sure that the shots I play well are technically excellent. That really is what I have worked on this pre-season and in those last two sessions with Duncan. Now I feel a lot calmer and have a lot more time at the crease."

Adams knows the only way to force his way back into the England Test side, and guarantee the one-day place he feels he deserves, against the West Indies and Zimbabwe is by scoring runs galore for Sussex.

"My initial aim is to regain my place in the England team," he declared. "I am not saying at this moment I've lost it, although it looks very much that way.'

He added: "I am a great believer that possession is nine tenths of the law and I played in the last Test match, but with the contracts handed out it looks on the cards that I won't play in the first Test match this summer.

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