Sussex are hoping to take county cricket back to Eastbourne in 2004.

Improvement work on the much-criticised wicket at the Saffrons has taken place under the supervision of Sussex's head groundsman Derek Traill and the ECB's pitches co-ordinator Chris Wood.

The county will stage a second XI match there this summer and, if everything goes well, they will return to Eastbourne for the first time since August 2000.

Sussex chairman David Green, who will meet Saffrons' club officials later this week, said: "We have a three-day game against Kent seconds on August 27-29 and if all goes well with the wicket then we should be back there for a four-day game in 2004, possibly even a full festival."

The county were annual visitors to Eastbourne for over 100 years but complaints about the wicket and facilities steadily increased.

The situation came to a head in August, 2000 when the Championship match with Northants barely lasted seven sessions and the wicket was reported to Lord's and marked 'below average' after the umpires called in pitch inspector Mike Denness.

The cramped changing rooms led to a comical situation when the visitors' Matthew Hayden and Adrian Rollins emerged onto the field from the squash club while the rest of their team-mates trotted down the pavilion steps.

There was little council support for cricket week, so much so that Eastbourne Borough Council did not even advertise it in their list of summer attractions.

All that has changed according to Andrew Price, chairman of the Saffrons Sports Club.

Two local businessmen have agreed to underwrite the cost of staging the festival if, as seems likely, Sussex impose the same conditions that currently operate at Horsham where the host club pays the county a fee and is then entitled to profits from admission, car parking and bar takings.

Price said: "We will be making a presentation to Sussex on Friday that they should come back to Eastbourne in 2004.

"Financially, the Saffrons is in a much better position and we can afford to have them and we have taken the best professional advice on improving the wicket."

Sussex have staged games at Hastings for the last three years, but there are no plans to return there this year.