Sussex are stepping up their search to find a home-grown fast bowler.

The county have never had the reputation of, say, Yorkshire or Lancashire for finding speed merchants from within their own ranks.

In the last 20 years, only James Kirtley has emerged from the Sussex junior ranks to make a career for himself at county and international level.

During that time Sussex supporters have enjoyed the sight of Imran Khan, Garth Le Roux, Franklyn Stephenson, Vasbert Drakes and Paul Jarvis rattling a few gilded cages. But that formidable quintet of quicks were all imported from overseas or other counties.

Mark Robinson was never the fastest. But during a playing career which spanned 15 years with three counties, during which he took nearly 600 wickets, he played enough to recognise what it takes to consistently bowl at a hostile pace with an action which stands up to the unique physical demands of fast bowling.

Now Robinson, and fellow Sussex coaches Keith Greenfield and Andy Cornford, are working with a group of five 16-year-olds who they feel have the potential to one day bowl fast.

They are Laura Marsh, who is with England Women's Development squad, Andy Carvell (Horsham), South-African born Carl De Bier, Ahmed Said (Preston Nomads) and Michael Quest (Christ's Hospital School).

There are no guarantees, of course, and Robinson believes spotting seam bowlers with potential should begin at a much younger age. But it's a start.

And he admits that of the hundreds of wannabes who contact the county every year for trials, seamers are automatically fast-tracked ahead of batsmen and spin bowlers.

It seems kids are queueing up to try and become the next Michael Vaughan or Shane Warne. Now perhaps the emergence in the past 12 months of Steve Harmison as the world's best fast bowler might encourage more youngsters to try and emulate the big man from Durham.

But Robinson knows it will be a long haul. The restriction on the number of overs young seamers can bowl is seen as the biggest turn-off for youngsters.

"It's not much of a game if you can only bowl five overs while spinners can keep bowling all day," he said.

"Kids don't tend to be as physically strong as my generation were and perhaps cricket isn't as accessible now as it was then, certainly in the schools.

"Fast bowling is hard work and perhaps that puts kids off a bit as well when there are easier options in their cricket. We just want them to love the game as much as they do football or other sports."

Robinson's fast bowling group meet weekly in the indoor school at Hove and their workload will increase in the new year when all of the county's elite junior squads step up their preparation for the new season.

Robinson added: "We feel this fast-bowling group has got potential and there's also Luke Vincent who is in our Academy and who played a second team game for us last season.

"It's purely a technique thing at the moment, a lot of one-to-one stuff.

"I don't think you can actually coach bowling quick, to a certain extent it is something which has to come naturally. What we concentrate on is making sure they can do it repeatedly with an action which isn't going to cause them injury. Often we don't even have a set of stumps for them to bowl at.

"After Christmas we will step it up and discuss things like game plans and tactics. All five of the players in the group have got potential and we will see where we can take them."

Kirtley and Sussex skipper Chris Adams will also monitor their progress and while it's unrealistic to expect either of them will have a home-grown Sussex quick bowler as a team-mate, the county should be applauded for at least putting the wheels in motion.

"It's a great challenge for us as coaches and for the club as a whole," said Robinson. "Sussex hasn't got the tradition of developing fast bowlers of some counties and not everything is in place yet.

"Our supporters have always responded to James Kirtley because he's one of their own. There's no reason why that shouldn't happen again in the future."