Sussex's Twenty20 hopes suffered a blow today when Murray Goodwin was ruled out for their next three games.

Goodwin has flown back to Australia for personal reasons but he will return in time for the county's last Twenty20 match against Essex next Tuesday.

The 33-year-old has been in great form since he was pushed up the order to open the innings, top-scoring with 30 and 67 not out in the wins over Surrey and Middlesex at the weekend.

Goodwin has an almost unblemished appearance record since joining Sussex in 2001 but he will miss tonight's return against Surrey at The Oval, Thursday's home match against Kent and Friday's visit to Hampshire.

Cricket manager Mark Robinson said: "We have been aware for a while that Murray might have to go back for a few days but we'd rather he missed some Twenty20s rather than the C&G Trophy final.

"Of course it's a big loss but it gives an opportunity to others."

Robinson says he has already decided who will open the innings with Matt Prior in Goodwin's absence but refused to confirm his identity.

Skipper Chris Adams believes two wins from their remaining four games should be enough to guarantee Sussex's place in the knockout stages for the first time.

Three wins will definitely be enough because of the closeness of the south group.

Sussex are one of three counties, along with Kent and Essex, who have three wins so far.

A crowd of around 15,000 is expected at The Oval tonight (5.30pm) to see if Sussex can complete the double over Surrey.

The Brown Caps are in danger of not reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in Twenty20 history after successive defeats left them in fourth place, but Adams knows his side are in for a tough night.

He said: "You can have the best game plan going but, as we saw against Essex last week, if you run into a side who get it right on the night you can get nailed which is what happened to us.

"Surrey have players who can take the game away from you on their own like Ali Brown and Azhar Mahmood.

We controlled them pretty well last Friday and that win and Sunday's against Middlesex have given the side enormous confidence.

"We're looking for three wins although I think two more will probably be enough. We've got Essex last at Hove and it might come down to that game to see who wins the group which would be a fantastic occasion."

James Kirtley, who missed the win over Middlesex because of a sore shoulder, will have a fitness test today but hopes to return.

Sussex: Prior, Nash, Yardy, Adams, Hopkinson, Heather, Wright, Yasir Arafat, Mushtaq Ahmed, Martin-Jenkins, Kirtley, Rayner.

Surrey: Brown, Benning, Ramprakash, Azhar Mahmood, Clarke, Walters, Batty, Murtagh, Salisbury, Doshi, Dernbach.