Sussex lose Lewry for early matches

Sussex 171 and 474 for 5 (Wright 155*, Nash 90, Martin-Jenkins 73* ) drew with MCC 205
Scorecard

	Luke Wright hit a career-best 155 at Lord's but the final day was washed out © Getty Images

Jason Lewry, the left-arm quick bowler, will miss at least the opening two week's of Sussex's County Championship defence after picking up a knee and calf injuries during the match against MCC at Lord's.

Lewry pulled up after a six-over opening spell on the first day and didn't bowl again during the match. He is being sent for an assessment and won't be available for the game against Hampshire on Wednesday and probably Kent the following week at Hove.

"He's going to a specialist tomorrow to make a plan," said Chris Adams. "He missed the pre-season tour [of Abu Dhabi] for personal reasons and that seemed to put him back a few weeks and we said 'we need to know if you are going to be right'. We played him here and it was probably a little early to put him through that."

However, Sussex should be able to absorb the loss of Lewry after the promising debut of Ryan Harris at Lord's, where he took four wickets, and the impressive work of Luke Wright. They also have James Kirtley and Ragheb Aga in reserve while Mushtaq Ahmed was busy in the nets on the Nursery Ground as he prepares for the start of his season.

Although the final day of the MCC match was washed out by regular heavy showers, Adams was delighted with what his team had managed to take from the match. "We got everything we could have hoped for and probably a bit more," he said.

After being shot out for 171 on the opening day they responded by restricting MCC to 205 then piling up 474 for 5 with Wright hitting a career-best 155 alongside runs for Robin Martin-Jenkins and Chris Nash.

"The decision to bat first was a reflection on possible scenarios for next week, we fully expect to turn up at The Rose Bowl and find a similar type of pitch," explained Adams. "I don't think we'll see anything different, it will be grassy and seam will be prevalent. I wanted to put the guys under pressure and bat first against what I thought was thoroughly impressive bowling from MCC."