He has been locked in negotiations with the club since the end of last season.

They are keen to stretch his existing three-year deal and Adams revealed: "We are just about there with the contract. That will see me hear for quite some time. I hope it gets resolved quickly and I think it will."

Sussex made Adams, 29 next month, the highest paid Englishman in county cricket when he joined them from Derbyshire 16 months ago in a move reputedly worth more than £200,000.

He rewarded them by scoring over 1,000 runs at an average of 43 to spearhead Sussex's dramatic transformation last season from wooden spoonists to a seventh-placed finish in the Championship.

The married father-of-two recently moved into a new home in the area and he said: "I love the place. It's a terrific part of the world. Obviously the club is not without its problems, but we have under the new chairman Don Trangmar a very progressive and passionate committee.

"I have not come here to rape the finances of the club, I have come here to be successful. As long as I am given certain assurances that we can continue to treat the players in a professional manner and recruit then I think we can definitely do something."

Clinching Adams' signature for a longer stay would be a huge boost for Sussex with the start of the season just ten days away.

Michael Bevan, who is being substituted as overseas player this summer by fellow Aussie Michael Di Venuto, has already agreed a new three-year deal which will keep him at the county until 2002.

And new signing Tony Cottey, Bevan's replacement as vice-captain to Adams, has been signed on a five-year contract.

General manager Dave Gilbert said: "I would like to think within the next few days we can have Chris's contract finalised.

"The only stumbling block has been the appropriate length of contract. We set a precedent with Tony Cottey and five years is the term Chris would like.

"He will be 33 by then and if he did want to move on then he would still have some bargaining power, which is fair enough.

"He is very good mates with Cottey and Bevan and I would be amazed if he doesn't wat to be a part of what we are trying to achieve, even if he does not sign at the moment."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.