I've just listened to today's podcast with Chris Nash and he seems very positive about the team's chances this season.

He mentions the spirit that exists between the players and their excellent work ethcic. This point is often made about Sussex, but it really has been the difference between them and other Championship teams over the last few years.

Adams talks about being smart - and this is the right approach. By this, I guess he means preparation before the game and flexibility during it.

England's 2005 Ashes winning side provide a rather obvious example of this, in that they had studied their opponents in minute detail prior to the series and continued to do so as it progressed. They were then able to capitalise on the Australians' weaknesses, as well as play to their own strengths. For me, the way they completely neutralised the threat of Adam Gilchrist proved a decisive factor in their eventual victory. His runs could have meant a very different outcome.

Sussex, I'm sure, will adopt the same techniques: studying video footage, working out a batsman's weaknesses (especially early in his innings) and bowling and setting fields in such a way as to exploit them. In the modern game this is nothing new of course, but its importance cannot be overstated.

Players also need to play close attention to their own games - I'm keen to see how Prior gets on. His confidence must have taken a knock last year, despite the fact that it has perhaps been a surfeit of it that has often been the cause of his undoing. You get a sense it's all in the mind with him: he knows what a good player he is and so he continues to play a little too extravagantly sometimes, when perhaps a little circumspection is called for. Similarly, it'll be interesting to see if Luke Wright can bowl to the fields Adams sets him with discipline and patience.

Nash also mentions the new players that have come in this year. And it's good to see that Harris, Aga and Beer have made the squad for the opening day. I'm wondering how Harris might fare on early-season English wickets and how all of them fit into this very tight unit.