15-18 June home to Durham, at Arundel

What the batsmen need is a rocket up their arse from the coach! You are their boss Robbo not their mates! Perhaps if you start treating them as such they may respect you more and actually start playing for you.

The Sussex players need to stop feeling sorry for themselves and get their arse in gear. It could be worse you could be working in a dead end job on minimum wage. If they don't start performing with the bat they maybe doing so sooner than they think!

What amazes me most is the complete lack of pride or interest in the players to actually turnaround their fortunes on the field. It really shouldn't need a coach to bullock his players. They should know their performance isn't up to scratch and actually do something about it.

There is no way Robinson will bring Adams in and if the board got Adams in behind his back I think Robinson would walk.

This farce cannot continue any longer. The current level of performances are an absolute disgrace. We should be scoring 300 week in week out. The number of times we have let lower order batsman get partnership for 8th and 9th wicket is unacceptable. There is a distinct lack of professionalism throughout the club at the moment. The only trophy we are going to win this season is if there is one for feeling sorry for ourselves. I cannot see us winning another game this season unless our current levels of performance improve significantly. At the moment there are very few players who are anywhere near fit to wear the Sussex shirt!

Agreed, fb. I can't abide people like cp who mince their words!

(But  to be serious for a moment, I suspect he is right about Adams...)

Somewhat less well-written than Paul Edwards' excellent piece, the latest missive from the club has tonight landed in my e-mail in-box.

It is headed "Sussex CCC Newsletter: Madness, Where Cricket Meets Boxing and much more!"

Presumbaly the first two references are to Sussex's batting and to the unfortunate KO of two Surrey players in the outfield on Sunday.

As for the" much more" - nine more loan players on the way, perhaps?

Oh dear, pass CP the shooter. Not a single batsman seems to be in any form, a big and unusual problem. Even Joyce, who scored a double ton against Belarus seconds a week or two ago can't put it together. Still, a pitch with uneven bounce from the off is asking for trouble - is our groundsman working the outgrounds too? These tracks are following us around, result pitches are fair enough but uneven bounce from the off is a no-no. At least batting last we have home roller advantage so clearly we can do to Durham what they did to us up at the Riverside, right S&F?

As for the spinner we brought in because of Beer's inadequacy: 0-100 off 30 overs. Beer could have done that, in fact, I reckon he might have done better - atrocious treatment of the fella for too long now. The Shahzad thing's getting on my tits too - what's that all about?

Anyway, this is what has happened for the last three years and here it is again. Two ways of looking at it, pull your hair out at a lack of lessons learnt, or wait patiently for the turnaround and inevitable decent finish. I have to add in the Club's defence, this has been a cruel season for injuries. To the bowlers anyway, dunno what excuses the six out and out batters we always pick can muster.

Pooqueeta!

But we can't have it both ways about the wickets, wally. Last season there was talk of abandoning Arundel because of a pitch that broke bowlers' hearts and on which you could bat ten days without a result. This year it's a three day result wicket, as have been the wickets at Hove - and we're still complaining.

The wickets have also been the same for both sides and opposition batsmen have in the main coped better. (Durham, by the way, won their first batting points in six games in this match, according to their supporters at Arundel. They keep getting bowled out for less than 200 in their first dig, but still win and are top of the table).

You say Joyce, Nash and Wright don't need a batting coach; yet you also say they have "become tentative and suffered a loss of confidence".  Aren't those exactly the circs in which a batting coach earns his corn?

Joyce presumably works with a batting coach when he's  with Ireland and we know Wright has a batting coach when he's playing for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash. So why don't they need one when they're with Sussex? 

Adams has been through all this before as a player  and a coach -  he's suffered loss of confidence and having to play on under-prepared wickets himself and he's had to deal with it in other players when he was at Surrey. You says "the solution is not Adams" and I'd agree that there is probably no one single factor that will provide THE solution. But Adams could be part of the solution. You don't have to give him a full-time job; bring him in a couple of days a week on a consultancy basis for the next month (after all, we've just brought in two players on  similarly short contracts) - and then see how it goes.

What would be a shame is that if the contribution Adams could make to getting the batting back on track and keeping Sussex in Div One this season is rejected not for financial or cricketing reasons, but for political ones.

Durham now 406 ahead.
Obviously terrified of leaving our powerhouse batting fewer than 500.