A trio of key Sussex players will test their fitness ahead of the Championship run-in tonight.

Skipper Chris Adams (tennis elbow), Tim Ambrose (knee) and Mushtaq Ahmed (groin) have not played for 12 days but all return tonight when the county play their final day-night fixture of the season.

Victory over Middlesex at Hove (4.10pm) would lift the Sharks off the bottom of the second division.

But time in the middle is more important to Adams whose side begin their title run-in against Middlesex at Hove on Friday.

He said: "As far as I'm concerned it makes no difference whether we finish fourth or bottom in the National League because you don't get promoted either way.

"It would be nice to avoid the wooden spoon but the most important thing is that myself, Tim and Mushy get some preparation before the Championship game."

Michael Yardy and Neil Turk make way tonight but James Kirtley is having treatment for shin splints and will not be considered.

Bas Zuiderent has requested to be released from his contract with Sussex due to the lack of first team opportunities.

Meanwhile Championship rivals Surrey have suffered another blow to their hopes of retaining the title after Saqlain Mushtaq was recalled to the Pakistan team for the third Test against Bangladesh which starts today.

It means he misses Surrey's penultimate Championship match against Kent at Canterbury tomorrow and will be unavailable for the rest of the season if he is retained in Pakistan's squad for a five-match one-day series against Bangladesh which follows the Test.

Surrey are already without Graham Thorpe, Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart while Mark Ramprakash, who missed last week's defeat by Lancashire, will need a fitness test on his injured shoulder.

Surrey lead the table by a point, but Sussex, who have a game in hand, have been installed as odds-on favourites.

Sussex (from): Goodwin, Hopkinson, Cottey, Adams, Ambrose, Martin-Jenkins, Prior, Davis, Mushtaq Ahmed, Hutchison, Lewry, Taylor.

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