for England." Prior accepted that the all-consuming nature of high-level sport had a negative effect on him a year ago and has vowed to play with greater perspective from now on. He said: "This time round I am not going to place myself under too much pressure because when you do you can't perform. I learnt a huge amount from the last time I was involved with England and I come back almost a year later a much more mature person and cricketer. "It is very easy to get quite intense. I have always worked very hard at my game and that won't stop, but you can get quite intense about it all. There are times when you return to your hotel room at the end of the day and you can't think about anything but the next day. You have to be able to break away from it. Coming back a year older, hopefully I will find a nice balance between the time you are on and concentrating, and the time you are off, when you let yourself relax. It is important to have those breaks." Breaks over the coming months will be few and far between for Prior, who is expected to regain his place in the Test team later this year. If Prior's glovework has improved as much as he believes England's wicketkeeping woes will indeed be a thing of the past. Game on: Oliver Thring joins a partridge shoot Everything but the turkey: Best Christmas trimmings