Skipper Luke Wright believes a switch in format can help Sussex kick-start their season.

Sussex begin their Royal London One-Day Cup campaign at Lord’s today on the back of heavy defeats in their opening two County Championship games.

The county do not play another four-day game for three weeks as the focus changes to improving their fortunes in 50-overs cricket.

Sussex have endured a torrid time in the competition over the last two years, winning just one of 16 games, but Wright is confident they can improve on that miserable record and challenge for a place in the knockout stages.

Wright said: “Obviously things have not gone to plan so it is probably a good time to have a break from four-day cricket and make a fresh start in a different competition.

“Everyone is disappointed with the start we have made and a bit of confidence has been lost as a result but you’ve always got to put things in perspective. Injuries were a huge problem last year and to have similar problems this year has made it really tough.

“Now we’ve got a chance to focus on a different competition and hopefully get some of that confidence back. You need four wins to get through to the quarter-finals and that is what we have got to push for.

“To achieve that we know we will have to massively improve on what we have done in the last year or two but I feel we have the players to do that in the squad.

“We looked at the areas we needed to strengthen in the winter in one-day cricket and batting was a key thing. We’ve brought in Stiaan (van Zyl) and Laurie (Evans) who are both excellent one-day batsmen while I’m going into the competition fit so that is almost like having a new player.”

Sussex were missing eight players through injury for the defeat at Trent Bridge last week with Steve Magoffin joining the casualty list when he limped off with a knee problem during Nottinghamshire’s first innings.

Overseas signing Vernon Philander will miss the entire group stages of the RLODC with a groin strain and his replacement Jerome Taylor is not due to be available until Sunday’s home game with Somerset.

David Wiese, Ajmal Shahzad and George Garton all sat out the thumping at Notts but have been named in a 13-man squad which includes 19-year-old all-rounder Jonty Jenner. Spinners Will Beer and Danny Briggs also come into the squad.

Wright added: “We know we haven’t started the season well but we have been dealt some tough cards. There is no point moaning about that, we’ve just got to roll with the punches and for those that come in it is a great opportunity to show what they can do.”

Sussex squad: Archer, Beer, Briggs, Brown, Evans, Finch, Garton, Jenner, Nash, Shahzad, van Zyl, Wiese, Wright.

Middlesex squad: Franklin, Finn, Fuller, Gubbins, Helm, Higgins, Malan, Patel, Robson, Roland-Jones, Simpson, Stirling, Adam Voges