Those of you who have turned up at the County Ground for the first time this year may have noticed a few changes around the place.

The most obvious one is the spanking new players' pavilion and indoor cricket school. But isn't the rest of the ground looking sparkling too?

You have the players to thank for that because for one entirely forgettable day during our pre-season this year, cricket bats were swapped for paint brushes as we were put to task on the white walls of the old ground.

Some of the techniques on show left a lot to be desired and there was a fair splattering of white paint in places there should not have been (witness the corridor outside the Dexter dining room for one).

But when we stepped off the ladders at the end of the afternoon, we had to admit that we'd transformed the ground from a peeling yellowy hulk to a gleaming white beast.

We may or may not win a trophy this year but one thing is for sure, our DIY skills have improved.

Whilst some counties are currently into their third Championship game and have played at least one National League fixture, Sussex's current battle with Kent is only our second match.

Our delay is not just because we have spent our time painting the ground, but is one of the glitches in our extraordinarily complicated fixtures list. We will fall further behind in a couple of weeks when we miss out on another round of Championship fixtures in hosting a four-day contest with Zimbabwe.

Our loss to Middlesex at Lord's will, therefore, be all the more significant points-wise as other teams surge ahead in the table.

It is always vital to start well in the Championship and so everyone involved with the team was naturally very disappointed that, having been in a position of strength on the eve of the fourth day, we were unable to bring home the bacon on Saturday. There were, however, many positives to have come out of the match.

Several batsmen looked in good nick, with Tim Ambrose playing particularly well. Poor shot selection may have let others down but this can hopefully be put down to early season rustiness more than any fundamental problem with technique.

On the bowling side, Jason Lewry bowled with more rhythm and confidence than at any stage last year and James Kirtley produced plenty of wicket-taking away swing that, at another time, may have brought him a 'ten for'.

There were numerous lbw appeals turned down, as well as countless play and misses, and on a luckier day we would have won by 50 or more runs.

We may have gone down in the first battle but a look back at last year will show us that the war is not lost yet. A heavy defeat by Surrey in the first game of 2002 woke us up to the challenges of first division cricket and we quickly made amends by drawing and then winning the next two games to get our season off and running.

A one-off loss is not too detrimental on the season as long as we can put together a string of good results somewhere along the line. We must hope that the lessons from Lord's can be learned and improvements can be made against the men of Kent.