OLLIE ROBINSON is facing a race against time to be fit for Sussex’s first game of the season.

Robinson is still struggling to overcome shin splints which limited his availability towards the end of last summer.

The all-rounder – who enjoyed a breakthrough season at Hove last year after signing in April – joined the rest of Sussex’s bowlers at a training camp in Spain last week.

But head coach Mark Davis admits it is not clear whether he will be ready to face Leeds/Bradford University in the season opener at Hove on April 5 or Northamptonshire in the first Championship match five days later.

Davis said: “Ollie is improving all the time but we are not 100% sure whether he will be available for the first game.

“We are working hard to try and get him there but his shins are still troubling him and it is a difficult injury to deal with.

“It is not like a normal injury where you rest for a certain amount of time and you’re fine. With shin splints you want him on his feet and training but you’ve also got to rest so it is finding that balance.

“It is not an easy one but the physios are doing all they can to get Ollie in the best possible shape.”

Robinson scored a century on his first class debut for Sussex at Durham in April and went on to take 46 wickets in the Championship last season.

However, he struggled from the middle of the summer with his shins and was forced to miss the final two games of the campaign as Sussex were relegated to division two.

He also picked up 14 scalps – second only to Tymal Mills – in the NatWest T20 Blast but featured just three times in the doomed Royal London One Day Cup campaign as Sussex attempted to nurse him through to the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Davis has confirmed Luke Wright is “100%” fit despite being left out of the Quetta Gladiators team for the final of the Pakistan Super League last month due to a wrist problem.

The Sussex skipper is currently in New Zealand but is expected back at Hove next week and Davis said: “Luke just had an injection in his wrist but he’s fine.”