Sussex skipper Chris Adams says he is not surprised that the county's young guns have started firing.

Adams and Tony Cottey, the two most experienced batsmen in the side, have been ruled out by injury for the past fortnight, but Bas Zuiderent, Will House and Michael Yardy have all taken the chance to impress in their absence.

Dutchman Zuiderent followed up his first one-day hundred on Monday with a maiden first-class century in the current Championship game while Yardy and House have both made important contributions against Nottinghamshire as well as helping Sussex qualify for the quarter-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup.

Adams said: "I'm not surprised that our youngsters are finally emerging, but it's a relief that it's finally happened.

"In a bizarre way, me breaking a thumb has been a been a bonus. At the start of the season players perhaps look to me for a lead, but suddenly I'm not there and they have performed because they have had no one to hide behind.

"We've complained about guys not producing it in the second team and I still say it's impossible to select guys for the first team who are averaging 20-25.

"But Peter Moores, the club and I have invested a lot of time and effort in preparing them mentally and technically and I'm delighted that it has paid off."

Zuiderent failed to add to his overnight 122 as Sussex were bowled out for 404 in their first innings against Nottinghamshire at Hove yesterday, but Adams has seen enough in the Dutchman's performance to suggest he has finally broken through.

"We had a hunch in pre-season that Bas was ready to play. His focus was good and he looked technically right to play at this level," said Adams.

"As long as he deals with success and failure the same he won't have a problem because he's got a solid technique and he has found a way to score runs.

"Bas has had the opportunity to make big scores and he's taken them, but I'm really pleased with the three of them as well as Matt Prior."