Cricketers spend much of their time moaning about the weather.

In true British style we complain that it rains too much in the summer and then when the sun comes out for a few weeks, sweaty sighs can be heard around cricket grounds saying it's too hot.

Just occasionally, however, a bit of bad weather can be a good thing.

The rain during Sussex's floodlight match against Worcestershire on Tuesday evening probably killed the game as a spectacle but for the Sussex team, messrs Duckworth and Lewis came up trumps and the revised target given to us when the rain abated was weighted in our favour.

The previous day's rain had soaked the preferred pitch for the game and so we had to use the strip on which we played our last home game against Derbyshire. Advantage Sussex.

Our previous knowledge of how the wicket played would surely be to our benefit. We saw during the last game that the wicket was slow but the new ball would bounce extravagantly from an area outside off stump.

As it happened, the first few Worcestershire batsmen were undone by that bounce.

It is vital when you bat first on any wicket to be able to assess as quickly as possible what the par score is going to be. Perhaps Worcestershire, having not seen the wicket before, were over ambitious in the opening overs.

As it happened, some very sensible batting by their middle order enabled them to reach a competitive target and so it was over to the Sussex batsmen to negotiate the new ball.

This is where the rain came to our advantage for a second time. When chasing a target it is vital to have wickets in hand towards the end. It means there will be much less risk when you are trying to hit boundaries to keep up with the run rate. It makes sense, therefore, that chasing a target in 20 overs will be easier than chasing one in 40 (despite adjustments made by Duckworth/Lewis) because you have less time to lose wickets. For the same reason, captains have been known to bat second despite any doubts about the pitch if there is a bad weather forecast.

A third bout of rain arrived when we were ahead of the run-rate and, as we had only lost two wickets, when we were able to resume we only had to score two more runs in two overs and the job was duly completed.

I hate to talk up one of my team-mates for fear of putting a curse on him but in Matt Prior's case I will make an exception as I'm sure he is above such mumbo-jumbo. The innings he played was, in my view, his best in one-day cricket so far for Sussex.

I say this despite seeing him hit a hundred against Shoaib Akhtar earlier in the season. All the ingredients he faced last night were extremely challenging - a difficult pitch, batting under murky floodlights and against an experienced and talented bowling attack.

Yet he took them in his stride and will have shown yet more people that he is surely talented enough to make it at the higher level if given a chance.

His keeping has improved this year and whilst he remains reluctant in that department, I think he might work that much harder if the murmurs of an England touring place as the reserve keeper continue to develop.

Lest he should read this, however, and it has the ill effect of increasing his ego too much I would like to finish by pointing out that while he remains a very fine cricketer, he is still going bald. I thank you.