"It’s not ideal to be turning around and getting straight on a plane," said wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

"I had to make a quick dash home to pick up my coloured pads and one-day kit.

"But the boys have got their heads around it and now we’re just concentrating on the job."

"If you want to perform at a high level throughout, you have to be very fit," said Prior.

"Personally I have lost a bit of weight since the West Indies tour. It wasn’t that I was carrying fat, but my training programme now is designed to keep me as lean and light as possible rather than building up muscle."

"I was really happy," said Prior.

"The one disappointment was that I didn’t get a hundred, and Andrew Strauss has been saying we need to score more of them.

"I suppose it was asking a lot of myself when I ran myself out twice in the series. "I was gutted when Marcus North hit one stump from the boundary at Lord’s because I thought I might be on for a big score there.

"And at the Oval too, that was just one of those days when you go out to bat and you just feel in great rhythm."

"Of course, I knew I only had myself to blame for being dropped," he said.

"And I knew that there was no magic solution – I just had to keep working hard, prepare in a way that gave myself the best possible chance, and I might get another go.

"I don’t think I’ve cracked it now, and I haven’t stopped trying to improve. I think that’s one of the strengths of my game."