LUKE WRIGHT has spoken of his immense frustration at being unable to lead Sussex into the new season.

Wright will miss tomorrow’s home game against Essex having been forced to drop out of the opening match at Northamptonshire last weekend with a combination of back and wrist injuries.

The 31-year-old was determined to launch a new era at Hove after taking over as skipper from Ed Joyce in the wake of relegation to division two of the County Championship last season.

But those plans have had to be temporarily shelved with Wright admitting he is “touch and go” to be fit for the third match of the campaign against his former county Leicestershire at Hove on May 1.

The former England international is set to have surgery on a burst vein in his wrist which has been troubling him since the end of last summer and is also recovering from an injection to ease the discomfort in his back.

Wright said: “You don’t want to miss any games as a player but when you are captain it makes it even worse. It has been really frustrating as I wanted to put my stamp on things at the start of the season but it’s just one of those things.

“If I end up missing just two games then it’s not too bad. The most important thing is to get the wrist right as it is something that has been troubling me for a long time.

“I had played with it for most of last season but it wasn’t until the game against Worcestershire (in September) that it became really bad. The ball which took me to 200 I felt a searing pain but after that it came and went so it was difficult to diagnose.

“We couldn’t pinpoint what the problem was until it suddenly started to really hurt during the Pakistan Super League and a lump came up on my wrist. They found that a vein had burst when I had been hit by a ball at some point and the bleeding was putting pressure on the nerves.

“It’s a relief to finally have it diagnosed and the good thing is that the operation to tie off the vein is a simple one. It should take four or five days for the wound to heal and I hope to be back playing between ten days and two weeks.

“That will be around the Leicestershire game but it will be touch and go. After five days I am allowed to pick up a bat again so I’m keeping my fingers crossed but I know it will be a close call.”

Batsman Chris Nash could return against Essex tomorrow after missing the game at Northamptonshire with a foot injury but England all-rounder Chris Jordan remains unavailable due to an elbow problem which he aggravated at the World Twenty20.