CC v Worcestershire away, 15-18 May 2016

We're on a road to nowhere. At least it's somewhere we feel at home.

Impossible to see a Sussex win from this position. A second bowling point , five batting points and then the points for a draw is probably the best we can hope for.

One win in the last 15 CC matches. We will go into the T20 with no captain, no England star bowler, no overseas bowler and no confidence or self-belief with just one win from the last 23 matches in all comps.

Thank you, Mark Robinson, for your "rich legacy". Back in the real world, it's hard not to conclude that you left a bit of a horlicks...

Looking at the bowling figures both for this match and for the season so far there are some fairly strong trends already evident:

Magoffin this season can still bowl tight but isn't running through sides. Because he has to be nursed in short spells his control is not a persistent factor encourgaing batsmen to be more reckless against the bowler at the other end in order to keep the scoring ticking over, thus his value is lessened even as a run-saver.

Robinson is plain out of form and needs a break. Perhaps its his shin splints problem but he he is constantly striving and veering down legside too often, and usually taking just the odd tailender's wicket. He is a fine cricketer and will come again but at the moment he is being played largely because his batting is better than 9, 10 and Jack.

Whittingham, and Garton in the matches he has played, are clearly great prospects and the thought of a Sussex attack built around them is very appetising - but it is a couple of years off, and at the moment we need someone to lead them and give them heart through his success. Hatchett did it against Derby but I wouldn't want to bet on that happening regularly.

Wells can just about cut it as a spinning all-rounder, though he is apt to be expensive. Briggs didn't quite look the part in the first few games and unless we have a record dry summer he might not get back in to the championship side

And speaking of "a lot of negtives about Sussex cricket at the moment", at 103-4 and still nearly 400 runs behind, is the follow-on and an innings defeat potentuially on the cards at Worcester?

Ross Taylor's underperformance is perhaps the most glaring of all. Let's hope Machin and Brown can make an improvement on their starts to the season.

Well this shirt front has five buttons at least. Do they make them with ten?

Hhs,

An echo of last season's George Bailey, perhaps? The only decent score he got for us was when the SKY cameras were at the ground. I am very surprised by Taylor's poor start. He looks such an assured and confident batsman at the crease but then gets out to rookie shots.

May be he's forgotten how to play the long game and gets caught between the two. From his 'Cricinfo' wiki: 

He scores heavily from the pull and from slog-sweeping the spinners and his free-flowing game has made him a hit with crowds. There was evidence of that during the IPL and Champions League when the Bangalore crowds cheered him as their 'local' hero.

Or, perhaps, it is the chilly English Spring weather he can't get used to? Let us hope he can find his form and gets going come June. We desperately need him.

Meanwhile, the pre-season expectations are collapsing in front of our eyes. This division seems harder to get out of than a wasp in a watery jam jar. Unless you're performing at a 100%, a club stands no chance. Apart from the Derbyshire game we haven't even hit 50% yet.