Coach Mark Robinson says Sussex still do not possess a strong enough seam bowling department to cope with the demands of a hectic county campaign.

Sussex look to have one of the most fearsome pace attacks in the country having brought in Tymal Mills and Ajmal Shahzad to add to Chris Jordan, Steve Magoffin, James Anyon and Lewis Hatchett who are already on the books.

Robinson has high hopes for both Mills and Shahzad but insists his arsenal has not increased due to the departure of Jon Lewis and the fact Jordan now has an England central contract and is unlikely to be available for most of the summer.

The Sussex coach also has the likes of youngster Matt Hobden and Chris Liddle as back-ups along with all-rounders Steffan Piolet, Harry Finch and Fynn Hudson-Prentice waiting in the wings for a chance.

But Robinson is wary of the gruelling demands placed on fast bowlers having seen Anyon, Lewis and Hobden all miss significant periods of last summer through injury and is keen to have more options at his disposal.

Robinson said: “I would like to have more depth in the seam department so I am able to rotate things when needed.

“We’re delighted to have Ajmal and Tymal on board but in relative terms we are in exactly the same position as we were this time last year.

“Jon has left and we don’t expect to see much of CJ so we have the same amount of seamers available. We are not really any better off.

“What we hope is that people like Jimmy and Matt don’t suffer long-term injuries so they are available for most of the season while Lewis is a long way further down the road in terms of development than he was 12 months ago.

“But you still need that depth. We won’t do anything more this summer but that has got to be our goal going forward as we want to be able to use our bowlers cleverly.

“CJ was our second top wicket-taker last year with 25 so we can’t expect Mags to keep bailing us out. Hopefully Ajmal and Tymal can take some of the responsibility off his shoulders but there is a danger we could put too much expectation on Tymal as he has had injury problems in the past.”

Robinson confirmed that Sussex’s hopes of signing England spinner James Tredwell on a permanent basis had been dashed this week meaning the county will operate with a four-pronged pace attack next season.

But he admits the absence of a batting all-rounder in a similar mould to Robin Martin-Jenkins means that approach puts extra pressure on the lower middle order to contribute significant amounts of runs.

Robinson added: “In an ideal world we will play four seamers and that has been the case for a while but it is hard to get that balance in the side when you do.

“That is what we are trying to get to but you need a batter who bowls more than useful seam to have a better balanced attack.

“Steff has the potential to fill that role but it is hard trying to find that all-rounder and without one you need your spinner, wicketkeeper and No.8 to score more runs.”