Twenty seven days of cricket left. Can you believe it? Despite all the trials and tribulations of the season, it has passed in the twinkling of an eye.

So far we have only had a modicum of success, with our two one-day quarter-finals so these last few weeks are absolutely crucial. A few good results would turn a mediocre season into a great one. Some poor performances and it becomes a disastrous season.

Most of the staff well remember two years ago when at an almost identical stage of the season we stood proudly at the top of the Second Division table having just beaten Middlesex at Southgate. We subsequently lost four of the last five games and finished with a rounded piece of cutlery made of oak!

We stand third in the Championship now but our position is inflated by the fact that we have played more games than everyone else.

We are languishing towards the bottom of the Sunday League Division Two. There is clearly much work still to be done. Two wins in the Championship (out of five games) may be all it requires to retain our First Division status for 2003. But in order to get promotion in the Sunday League we probably need to win six out of the last seven games; a tall order if we continue to bat with such apparent awfulness when faced with a white ball.

Sunday's loss to Gloucestershire at Cheltenham was humiliating. On what was essentially a good batting pitch, we capitulated and when they finished the game off by hitting the winning runs in the 17th over of the reply, it was only 4.45pm.

If you include the tea interval the game had only lasted three hours. The packed crowd hung around for some time afterwards, probably in shock and unable to move.

For many of us it was the heaviest thrashing we had ever encountered on a cricket pitch. In fact, it was one of those surreal days that needs to be put out of one's mind.

When something goes so spectacularly wrong, as our batting did on Sunday, you can either analyse it until you're blue in the face or you can forget it and move on. I feel the latter is the most constructive way to deal with it in this instance.

'Could do better' would be the report at this stage of the term but there is a lot for Sussex supporters to be optimistic about. Twenty out of the aforementioned 27 days are to be played at Hove.

The players love to play at home. We feel more relaxed here. We know and can adapt to the conditions well. We have our families to go home to at night, which can relieve stress at the end of a trying day (or at least it should have that effect!). Living out of a suitcase in hotels can become a bit of a chore and can start to have some effect on your cricket (hence the Gloucestershire game was at the end of a ten-day 'away trip' that started at Taunton - whoops, there I go mentioning that game again when I said I was going to forget it and move on!).

Despite the most recent results, we are playing some good cricket. We are bowling well and most of the batsmen feel in good nick.

We will also have the psychological boost that players returning from injury provide. James Kirtley' s hand is mending well. Mark Davis's hand may take a bit longer but our captain Chris Adams should be fit again soon. A full squad to play with, plenty of games at Hove and these last 27 days cannot come quickly enough.

Thursday August 1