Chris Adams says the arrival of Corey Collymore could not have been better timed.

Collymore should make his Championship debut against Somerset at Taunton next week and will bring some much-needed firepower to Sussex's struggling seam attack.

Robin Martin-Jenkins has revelled in the opportunity to take the new ball but skipper Adams believes he is Sussex's only nailed on' seamer at the moment.

The statistics bear him out. Martin-Jenkins has taken seven Championship wickets but between them Ragheb Aga, Chris Liddle, Luke Wright, James Kirtley and Jason Lewry have bowled 138 overs and only taken six.

Admittedly, two of Sussex's three draws have been on flat, slow Hove pitches and they were without their match-winner Mushtaq Ahmed for the latest of them against Surrey.

Adams said: "We're bringing a quality performer who has done it on the biggest stage and the Surrey game reflected how much we need someone like Corey and we couldn't have picked a better time to bring in someone of his quality.

"I think we're are there or thereabouts with the bat, we have guys in form and playing well albeit on batsman-friendly pitches. But we are behind the eight-ball bowling-wise. Robin is nailed on at the moment but the rest are someway off for all sorts of reasons."

Mushtaq's replacement, off-spinner Ollie Rayner, and the remorseless Mark Ramprakash had reason to remember the final day against Surrey on Saturday.

Ramprakash lodged the 99th first-class hundred of his career before he became one of two victims for Rayner, who also got one to turn out of the rough to remove left-hander Mark Butcher.

Ramprakash has scored 20 of those centuries since 2006 but at 245 balls this was the slowest of them although he went from 89 to 123 off just 30 deliveries before drilling a return catch.

Rayner has almost doubled the length of his run-up to get more rhythm into his action and Adams is impressed with the improvements.

He said: "Ollie was impressive. He's made a move from where he was last year and has a calmness which he didn't have before. He's already had belief in his ability but he's found sense in what he does."

With only two positive results in three rain-ruined rounds of matches, the first division has a congested look but Adams is not too concerned about how his side have started.

He added: "With Ryan Harris and Mushy's injury we've had to deal with more in three weeks than in the last two to three years. We've got three solid draws and I genuinely don't feel too bad. We will get better, I'm convinced of that."

Scores: Sussex 475 & 13-0, Surrey 400-5 dec. Sussex (10pts) drew with Surrey (11).