Chris Adams believes playing two more group games would make qualification for the knockout stages of the Twenty20 Cup fairer.

The Sussex skipper today called for future tournaments to include ten group games instead of the present eight with both teams playing their five regional rivals home and away.

It would remove the current anomaly whereby Sussex play Essex, Surrey and Hampshire twice but only Middlesex and Kent once.

He said: "The south group is very open and the frustrating thing about the way the competition is organised is that ours is by far the hardest group.

"We also, I believe, play two of the weakest teams - Middlesex and Kent - once and they will probably think the same about us.

"But we play two of the sides who everyone in the country would regard as strong one-day outfits in Surrey and Essex twice.

"The concept is flawed. We should play each team home and away twice - that would be fairer."

Adams is desperate to fill a gap on his Sussex CV by leading the county to the knockout stages for the first time.

Their hopes suffered a setback last Friday when a crushing 100-runs defeat to Surrey at Hove meant they slipped from top spot to third.

The top two counties in each regional group qualify for the quarter-finals along with the two third-placed teams with the best records.

The Sharks have three games left with two at Hove, starting against Essex tomorrow (7.10pm).

Adams added: "I'm not using the format as an excuse for the way we lost on Friday but we have yet to qualify in the Twenty20 yet we see what I consider weaker sides go through from the other groups.

"I would love to see the best teams in the country at the finals day and I would like to think that whoever goes through from the south group - and hopefully that will include us - would go very well in the knockout stages and finals."

Emergency regulations approved by the ECB last week have made provision for an extra hour's playing time because of the current wet weather.

But that might only be realistically implemented in Sussex's last two games, against Surrey on Thursday and Hampshire on Friday, which are both 5.30pm starts. Even then, a lack of daylight could prevent the sides from taking advantage of the new rule.

Meanwhile, repairs to a floodlight pylon at Hove were being completed today after an electrical fault caused smoke to billow out from the lights during the Surrey match.