Away to Durham 26th-29th April

I'm not sure what they'd do if Mills isn't fit. Is Liddle a realistic option? Sakande or one of the other seamers playing for the unis? Beer?

If Nash is fit then he should certainly return. The problem is who he should open with. For three years we have regarded Wells and Nash as the opening pair of choice and whenever fit they have played together. They have made a few good scores as a partnership, but have performed much better individually. It seems that Wells in particular is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain consistency from the opening position. He is a good player, and no doubt his form will come back, but two hard-fought wins against newly-promoted sides should not blind us to the need to get the innings thoroughly established from the beginnings without putting pressure on the middle-order to come to our rescue.

There are no obvious openers clamouring for places from the Second Eleven, but we know that Joyce does the job very well, though he prefers batting at 3 or 4. I would suggest that Machan, who was batting as early as the 6th over on Sunday, could be well equipped to give us an aggressive and productive start. Wells could slip back down to 5 or 6 and rediscover his form there away from the new ball. His bowling seems to have come on this year and whilst he doesn't have the control necessary to keep batsmen pinned down he does have the knack of taking wickets and that might be a good short-term strategy, although I think Sussex have to find a specialist spinner from somewhere if they are ever to make a serious challenge for the Championship.

The other places in doubt are Mills, presumably to be rested and to have his ankle or back problems thoroughly diagnosed and cleared before relying on him as a spearhead, Yardy and Zaidi. If Yardy is well again there might be a contest between him and Cachopa for one middle-order place, and it is a good sign of the current batting strength that this should be so. Cachopa had a stinker with bat and with catching, but he impressed so much last season and in the winter in New Zealand that it seems just like a bad blip that he will recover from - and perhaps do some extra fielding practice.  It might be better for Yardy to sit out a game or so and get himself well again before the start of the T20s next month. That leaves Zaidi, and given the strength of the batting and the minimal requirements for spin at Durham, it doesn't look as if there is a place for him this time.

If Mills is unfit or to be rested, then we are a pace bowler short. That could mean a return for Piolet or an outing for one of the recent triallists. Ollie Robinson impressed in the Seconds game against Middlesex with 100 and 5 wickets in the match, and Craig Young, of Ireland, took 7.

Possible team:

Nash
Machan
Cachopa
Joyce
Wright
Wells
Brown
Shahzad
Robinson
Magoffin
Hobden
12th: Piolet

Weather forecast is pretty dire after the sunny southern drought, with a high of 7 degrees and light sleet predicted for Sunday and perhaps rain again on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Robinson has only really played limited overs cricket at a high level so do not have any great expectations on him in 4 day cricket.

So Zaidi and Mills drop out and Nash returns. Still no Yardy

According to Steve Hollis, Robinson will be in the final XI (indeed, not much point in signing him and sending him all the way to Durham if he wasn't going to play).

SH tweets: "Former @yorkshireccc seamer Ollie Robinson joins @sussexccc on a short term basis. Set to make debut at @durhamcricket tomorrow"

Good side that, I reckon. If it's still a seamer friendly place, perhaps Robinson's reduced pace may be what's needed.

Me too, but Billy never seems to get much of a look in. Maybe Robbo liked the name.