The absence of Hampshire stars Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen for tomorrows Championship match at the Rose Bowl is a boost to Sussexs hopes of a first win of the season.

But skipper Chris Adams admits he is disappointed not to be coming up against two of the biggest names in world cricket.

Hampshire skipper Warne is still in Melbourne having treatment on a troublesome shoulder and is not due to arrive until the end of the week while Pietersen, like the rest of the England players, is resting after a gruelling winter in India and Pakistan.

The rival captains famously locked horns at Hove a year ago after a drawn Championship game ended in rancour when Adams accused his opposite number of trying to humiliate Sussex wicket-keeper Matt Prior and admitted that he had lost respect for Warne.

The Australian leg spinner hit back, claiming that Adams had given a one-sided view of events and that whatever respect I had for him has certainly disappeared too.

The pair avoided each other in the return game last July when Warne was on Ashes duty and Sussex lost by 35 runs, a defeat that was costly to their hopes of winning the title.

Adams said: I think were all disappointed that Warney wont be playing because as pros you always want to challenge yourself against the best in the world and theres no doubt he is.

What happened last year is long forgotten. Were looking forward to another very difficult game but well go there in high spirits after what happened at the weekend.

Adams was referring to the record-breaking third wicket stand of 385 between Murray Goodwin and Mike Yardy which enabled Sussex to save a game they looked like losing for the first three days against Warwickshire.

Its a big boost to our confidence but there are things we will have learned from it as well, added Adams.

We need to keep our goals very simple and apply ourselves from day one rather than day four.

Rana Naved, who arrived at Hove yesterday, will go straight into the Sussex side and the county will decide today whether James Kirtley is ready to return after re-modelling his action. Duncan Spencer will probably make way for Rana. Hampshire welcome back Chris Tremlett after winter knee surgery and he replaces Richard Logan. Australian all-rounder Dominic Thornely, who played two matches for Surrey last season, and former Kent batsman Michael Carberry make their Rose Bowl debuts for their new county.

Sussex (from): Richard Montgomerie, Carl Hopkinson, Mike Yardy, Murray Goodwin, Chris Adams, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Andrew Hodd, Luke Wright, Rana Naved, Mushtaq Ahmed, Jason Lewry, Duncan Spencer, James Kirtley.

Hampshire: Michael Brown, Jimmy Adams, John Crawley, Dominic Thornely, Michael Carberry, Nic Pothas, Sean Ervine, Dimitri Mascerenhas, Shaun Udal, Chris Tremlett, James Bruce.