Sussex's batting woes in the National League know no bounds.

Already humbled on trips to Derby, Manchester and The Oval, they plumbed new depths yesterday against a Middlesex side who arrived in Arundel rock-bottom of the second division.

Destroyer in chief was right arm seamer Abdul Razzaq, who produced a return of 3-1 in five balls to devastate Sussex's innings after they had chosen to bat first.

Razzaq's blast followed hot on the heels of a brilliant direct hit run out by Andy Strauss to remove top scorer Tim Ambrose as Sussex collapsed from 60-2 to 64-6 in the space of two overs.

It was a hole out of which they never looked like digging themselves, despite the customary spirited bowling and razor sharp fielding after the interval.

Coach Peter Moores admitted: "We keep putting ourselves in positions where we are playing catch up.

"We have got to go back to the drawing board but the nice thing is we have got people playing pretty well in Championship cricket.

"There's no substitute for building partnerships at the start of the order because that allows you to play freely at the end. We have not played well enough and we have no excuses but at least we have got another chance to put it right against Hampshire next week."

Moores admitted his side had been tempted to put Middlesex in first but added: "We decided to bat because it is a formula which has worked for us in the past. This ball swung around a bit early on and we lost important wickets.

"It was never an easy pitch to bat on and give Middlesex their due, they bowled pretty well."

With the exception of Matt Prior's swashbuckling efforts in the second half of the innings against Essex at Horsham, Sussex have struggled for runs in all five of their National League outings.

Yesterday's innings could hardly have started any worse as former Somerset man Ian Jones marked his debut for the County of his birth with a wicket from his second delivery.

Richard Montgomerie was the man to go, though there was some doubt as to whether Owais Shah had picked the ball up on the full or on the half volley at second slip.

Chris Adams struck three sweetly timed boundaries on the same ground and against the same opponents as he cracked a county record 163 in this competition three years ago.

That was until Jones' persistent line and length was further rewarded in his fifth over as Adams, looking to guide the ball through the offside, instead edged to lone slip Paul Weekes.

For a while Ambrose led Sussex's response for those setbacks. He dominated a stand of 29 with Murray Goodwin, notably with two text book drives through mid-on for four off successive Simon Cook deliveries at the end of the 18th over.

That left the little right-hander as the non-striker when Razzaq came in for his fourth over from the Castle End and he was brilliantly beaten by Strauss' direct hit when Goodwin called for a quick single to the covers off the first delivery.

Two balls later it got even worse for Sussex as Will House pulled a short ball into the hands of Cook, waiting on the long leg boundary.

New batsman Robin Martin-Jenkins nearly followed immediately, being sent back by Goodwin as he looked for a quick single and being reprieved when Chad Keagan fumbled the ball as it was returned hastily to the non-striker's end.

Goodwin, however, was out lbw to the following ball and Razzaq struck at the start of his next over as Matt Prior was bowled first ball.

Martin-Jenkins, whose half century at least ensured something approaching respectability in the defeat to Surrey, hit two fours before finding himself in all sorts of trouble when spinner Paul Weekes was introduced at the Park End.

Weekes, whose benefit game was washed out when Sussex went to Lord's recently, was the beneficiary this time as Martin-Jenkins looked to break the shackles with an ungainly pull through fine leg, only to miscue to mid-wicket where James Dalrymple held the catch.

Kevin Innes offered some resistance with his 24, driving Weekes for six into the rough on the Park End banking before falling lbw as he played back to Cook.

For the second successive week, it was all about seeing out the overs in the later part of the Sussex innings, which did not do much for excitement levels.

Suspense was provided by whether wicketkeeper David Alleyne would get to Billy Taylor's top edged sweep, which he did, or Mark Robinson add to his collection of not outs, which he didn't.

Robinson did his bit to prolong the innings, his pull for four off Razzaq getting almost as big a cheer as the news of Germany's demise in the World Cup. A charge at Weekes was less successful, meaning Sussex had surrendered 3.2 valuable overs of batting time.

That meant they needed moments of brilliance, or at least brilliant luck, to retrieve the situation.

They did not get the latter, Strauss inside edging Martin-Jenkins, but the former was in evidence as Innes held a super diving catch at square leg to remove the same batsman off the same bowler.

Martin-Jenkins and Taylor certainly bowled well and Innes made another decent contribution by having Alleyne snapped up at second wicket.

The Middlesex pinch-hitter had made five in 14 overs.

Apart from two sixes for Shah, it was sedate in the extreme but Middlesex still had six overs in hand as they ended their two month wait for a win in limited overs cricket.

News that Lancashire's game with Surrey had been washed out meant Moores and his men were left on the bottom of the League.

Sadly, Sussex's batting flops in this League are becoming even more predictable than bleak weather bulletins from Old Trafford and that is something they must put right when they head to the Rose Bowl for next Sunday local derby.