Chris Adams says he has sacrificed some of his natural flair to produce the most consistent form of his Sussex career.

Adams has yet to lodge a hundred this season but he is still averaging a respectable 38.11 in Championship cricket, a statistic he is confident of improving before the summer ends as he gets used to his new role down the order.

"This season has been a new challenge for me batting at No. 5 but I'm really pleased with the level of consistency I've produced so far," he said.

"It means I have got added responsibility now because I can often be batting with the lower-middle order and tail. I haven't got the freedom to blaze away anymore like I used to at three or four.

"That can be frustrating sometimes. I watched Matt Prior's hundred on Wednesday and remembered when I used to play like that!

"But even when I used to get big scores playing with that sort of flair there would still be massive frustration if you played and missed a lot or got dropped at slip because you never felt in control."

The refined Adams has only made two single-figure scores in Championship matches this season and although a really big score has eluded him, he feels it is only a matter of time before his dilligence pays off.

"At the start of the season the question was whether I could forego my natural flair and replace it with consistency and so far I think I have," he added.

"I'm batting a lot more selectively, I'm leaving a lot more balls outside off stump.

"But the level of consistency which I've found has been really pleasing and I don't think it's been any better in my years with the club.

"And if I maintain it I know I will be able to bang out a couple of big hundreds this season when it's my turn. If I can do that I will finish my career with an average in the mid-40s which would be brilliant."

The Sussex captain will resume on 44 at Arundel today as the county attempt to make up for lost time against Nottinghamshire in their last Championship match before a three-week break for the Twenty20 group stages.

After 45 overs were lost on the first day to rain, persistent drizzle restricted yesterday's allocation to just seven overs before umpires Allan Jones and Ian Gould abandoned play at 5.15pm with Sussex 274-6.

The county have now lost 623 overs to bad weather in the Championship this season - the equivalent to six full days out of 26 so far. Only Lancashire have suffered more from rain and bad light.

Three of Sussex's games - against Hampshire, Middlesex and Glamorgan - would almost certainly have produced positive results had it not been for the intervention of the weather.

Adams has played long enough to accept the vagaries of the English climate.

"As professionals you learn to take it on the chin because it's something you can't control," he said.

"It worked in our favour when we won the Championship but it seems that for the last couple of years we have been on the wrong end of it."

Umpire Gould, the former Sussex wicketkeeper, believes that eventually Championship matches will continue after the scheduled 6.30pm to make up for any lost time, should conditions allow for extra time.

It would certainly have been possible to play until 8.30pm on Wednesday although when yesterday's action was called off the Castle Ground was cloaked in low cloud.

In the 30 minutes possible before lunch Sussex lost Robin Martin-Jenkins in what turned out to be the last over of the day when he guided the ball to backward point to give AJ Harris, who had been warned for running on the pitch on day one, to backward point.

Martin-Jenkins added 81 in 23 overs with Adams for the sixth wicket and despite numerous inspections in the afternoon the outfield never dried out sufficiently.

Luke Wright will be anxious to impress when he resumes with Adams today in what is only his third Championship innings for the county, but the contest already looks like being merely a battle for bonus points.

Meanwhile Notts have confirmed that their leading wicket-taker Ryan Sidebottom will not bowl again in the match after suffering a side strain in his fifth over on Wednesday.

June 17, 2005