Sussex and Surrey are to hold a two-minute silence in memory of Ben Hollioake and Umer Rashid before their opening Frizzell County Championship match at The Oval on Friday.

The two all-rounders, who died in separate accidents in the past month, will be remembered by players and officials before play starts.

Surrey's England all-rounder Hollioake died in a car crash in Australia and Rashid drowned during Sussex's pre-season trip to Grenada along with his brother Burhan.

Surrey have confirmed Hollioake's elder brother Adam will not be available to captain them during the early weeks of the season.

That job is expected to be done by former England skipper Mark Butcher, starting against Sussex.

A Surrey spokesman said today: "Adam has been told to take the time he needs. We don't know yet when he will be back but the decision will be his."

Robin Martin-Jenkins needs to prove his fitness before he can be included in the Sussex squad which will travel to London tomorrow before practising at the Oval.

The all-rounder bowled for the first time in over two weeks during Monday's friendly against Gloucestershire and was hoping to be declared fully fit today.

Most of the Sussex team picks itself but one slot in the top order remains to be filled and the likely candidates are Michael Yardy, Tim Ambrose and Bas Zuiderent who returns from competing in the Six Nations Challenge Trophy in Namibia with Holland today.

Zuiderent played in three of Holland's matches, his highest score 58 in the defeat by Kenya a week ago.

Chris Adams may not be able to bowl at the Oval because of a slight groin strain, but he will definitely lead the side which will include debutant Paul Hutchison, the county's close season signing from Yorkshire.

Adams is convinced his county can hold their own in the top flight, starting against the 2000 champions.

He said: "It's a long season and winning the title is difficult, you have to be mentally as well as physically strong the whole way through.

"But if we avoid major injuries and produce the performances I know we are capable of then we can definitely compete with the likes of Surrey and Yorkshire.

"There are no superstars in our team, no one needs molly-coddling and we have a great team spirit. If we maintain that then we are in business because we have six or seven potential matchwinners who can turn a game on their own."