Sussex captain Chris Adams is hopeful but not totally confident he will be fit to lead the County Champions when they begin the defence of their title this week.

Adams admitted as he watched his team's draw against MCC at Lord's under the leadership of deputy Murray Goodwin that there is a chance he may have to sit out more cricket as he recovers from an operation on his elbow.

He has already figured in a warm-up fixture for Sussex in pre-season. But asked whether he will definitely be able to play against Surrey at The Oval on Friday, he said: "I think so.

"I am not 100 per cent sure because in the run-up to this game I was certain I was going to play.

"But I had a little bit of a reaction following the warm-up game and the physio was just a little bit reluctant to let me play."

Adams was frustrated to miss what he saw as a "big occasion", which finished honours even last night, thanks principally to the second-innings batting of Goodwin, Matthew Prior and Tim Ambrose who combined to keep MCC at bay.

Goodwin's 28th first-class hundred set the champions on the way to claiming a share of this curtain-raising match as they took advantage of improved batting conditions on the final day.

But after Goodwin (102) had gone just before lunch and was then followed back by Robin Martin-Jenkins for a duck, Sussex were still well short of making MCC bat again and needed someone in the middle order to make a significant contribution.

As it was, Prior (92) and his fellow wicketkeeper-batsman Ambrose (60) each answered the call in a match which eventually finished with Sussex 399-7 in their second innings and 60 runs to the good when bad light intervened.