THE layout of the away dressing room at Hove will not be entirely alien to Chris Adams when he becomes the second Sussex great to make an emotional return to Hove this season.

With no first-team action for his new county Surrey last week, Adams took the opportunity to watch their second team in action against Sussex at the County Ground.

“It did feel strange going into the away dressing room after 11 years in the other one,” he admitted. “I saw a few familiar faces at the ground and I’m looking forward to coming back properly on Sunday. When the fixtures came out it was the first game I looked for.”

Like Peter Moores, who returned with Lancashire last month, Adams can be assured of a warm reception. During his 11 years as captain he won eight trophies including three County Championships.

Great memories but Adams has little time these days to reflect on his huge contribution to the most successful era in Sussex’s history.

He moved into cricket management last December after signing a three-year contract at The Oval and the early weeks of the season have confirmed what Adams suspected: reviving the fortunes of a county still regarded as one of the biggest in the country will be no overnight fix. The infamous Surrey strut has become little more than a limp.

He said: “I was under no illusion that we could just re-shuffle what we had and things would be fine. We didn’t win a game in the Championship last season and our one-day record wasn’t that great either – it was almost that we had forgotten to win a game.”

Just after Adams arrived Surrey announced a further £400,000 was being ploughed into the cricket budget. It enabled Adams to make some high-profile signings including Andre Nel, the former South Africa bowler who retired from Test cricket and registered as a Kolpak, and New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott, who played second team cricket for Sussex last season.

Rain saved them from defeat in their opening Championship game against Gloucestershire but they were not so lucky a week later when they lost to Adams’ first county Derbsyhire.

Successive defeats to Gloucestershire and Durham in the Friends Provident Trophy put them on the back foot but they bounced back on Monday to record their first win of the season against Yorkshire. Further up the A1 Sussex were doing the same at the Riverside.

Adams said: “We have steadily been improving since the start of the season and you could see afterwards how much winning meant to the players.

“Before the Durham game I had to address a few issues about our body language and energy in the field and the guys took them on board. On Monday it was Yorkshire who looked flat. We didn’t just win – we demolished them.”

Adams is determined to give Surrey’s youngsters an opportunity this season. He made a big call on Monday by dropping the dependable Jon Batty and bringing in Gary Wilson behind the stumps the day after he had played in the same competition for Ireland.

“We have to find out about the youngsters,” said Adams. “They are all desperate to impress and me arriving will be seen by some of them as a fresh start.

“I have changed a few things around the dressing room and the players have embraced those changes.

“It’s a case of getting them used to good habits and discipline, even in simple things like the team uniform. I had to take one of the youngsters, who wasnot even playing, to task at Hove last week when I saw him wandering around in a t-shirt and flip flops."

While Adams is happy to put the accent on youth, Surrey’s experienced names hold the key to success this summer. After serving a two-week ban for his part in last August’s infamous bust-up with Murray Goodwin, Mark Ramprakash has scored two hundreds in his last three games and skipper Mark Butcher, plagued by knee trouble for the past year, could make his competitive return at Hove on Sunday.

“As with every dressing room there are different characters and some will no doubt test me,” said Adams. “I like to think when I was captain that I was honest and consistent in my decision making and the way I handled players.”

As he headed back to Sussex on Monday, he still lives near Henfield, Adams sent a congratulatory text to Sussex coach Mark Robinson, who was enjoying his first win of the season as well. Surrey is his priority these days but thoughts of his former club are never too far away.

He said: “Sussex are a good one-day side so it is going to be difficult on Sunday for us. May the best side win – as long as it’s us!”