If ever there was honour in losing then my Sussex team deserve great credit for almost pulling off an incredible win against Lancashire on Tuesday.

Rock bottom going into the match knowing that at least three out of the last five need to be won to stave off the wooden spoon, it seemed that there was everything to play for.

But once again our batting collapsed in what can only be described as very difficult batting conditions.

In almost every game this year we have been reduced to 30 or 40 for four within ten overs, leaving the rearguard to post scores which in all honesty have always been 20 or 30 runs light.

Reasons for this? Well, what we know for sure is the new Kookaburra white ball is hard, much harder than any other ball and it has a large seam which if hit is conducive to large sideways movement. To make matters worse it swings in which makes life for a batsman pretty difficult.

Now, if you play these matches on hard true flat pitches like England did this summer then life as a batsman is reasonably good because with the hardness of the ball on true pitches you get full value for your shots.

Unfortunately the Hove pitch is in transition at the moment and pitches generally have been slow, low and offering some resistance to the larger seam.

So you have to feel for the batsmen at the moment but at the end of the day we have only required 20 or so more runs on several occasions and that shouldn't really be too difficult.

However, if ever this team showed they had spirit and fight it was in defending the score. To a man all the bowlers bowled with a great deal of discipline and hit a length hard.

Batting looked every bit as hard for Lancashire as the likes of Byas and Law were made to hop around the crease and play and miss regularly.

To add to the bowling our fielding was lively and alert and at no stage did anyone believe that victory was not within our grasp.

Pick of the bowlers had to be Mark Davis, who it seems over the past two months has raised his own game to a new level, once again confirming himself as a top-class performer.

Rock Bottom we are but there are four games to go, win three and we will move up the table, that has to be the target. If we don't achieve it but continue to fight like we did against Lancs then I certainly won't lose too much sleep.

This week we must fancy our chances against a depleted Lancashire. There are no certainties in four-day cricket but Lancashire must be feeling a little down, plagued by injuries and coming off the back of a home defeat against rivals Yorkshire.

We know that if we stay strong and focused then we stand a very good chance of coming away from this game with some healthy points.

That said there are hidden dangers in being complacent or over-confident. There are also dangers which we know are not hidden. Stuart Law is a fine player and somebody we must negate if we are to find success.

Lancashire have always been strong in the seam bowling department and with Peter Martin back from injury we know that on the pitches that Hove has produced recently then batting will be anything but easy.

Let's hope Murray Goodwin continues with the success he has found here recently and helps us to an imposing first innings score.

On a final note I had my first taste of live commentary the other night and I have to say I really enjoyed it.

On several occasions I have had to do studio analysis up at the Sky village and many times in the pre and after match interviews but never during the game.

It is definitely something which I would love to do again. Chris Adams Sky commentator, who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to say "In my day..."