Tom Haines has been urged to be his own man as he leads Sussex in the 50-overs competition.

The Crawley-born 22-year-old has been named as captain for the Royal London One-Day Cup.

His first game in charge is away to Lancashire today (11am) in what is largely now a development competition.

Sussex coach Ian Salisbury said: “Your utopia in all competitions is you have 11 leaders out there.

“Rather than me telling him what to do, I’m interested in what he does.

“You don’t want him to be a puppet.

“I’m really intrigued to see how he goes.

“I know Travis (Head) will help, as will Beero (Will Beer).

“There will always be a helping hand out there but the more leaders we start creating, the better.”

Sussex have not ruled out fielding senior pros Ben Brown, Ollie Robinson or David Wiese as the competition progresses.

But young fast bowler Jamie Atkins is expected to miss the 50-overs programme due to a shoulder injury.

Sussex are taking no chances with the powerfully-built paceman.