Sussex will follow the lead given by top football clubs by employing a rotation policy to protect their prized assets.

Skipper Chris Adams is anxious that his key bowlers, James Kirtley and Robin Martin-Jenkins, don't suffer from burnout this season as the county chase promotion in the Championship and Norwich Union League.

Kirtley played in every game last season except the friendly against New Zealand A, bowling a total of 682 overs in Championship and one-day cricket.

Only two seamers sent down more overs in first class matches than the 26-year-old's 521. They were Gloucestershire's Jon Lewis with 562 and Kirtley's own team-mate Jason Lewry with 524 although Lewry's overall workload wasn't as great because he played just five limited overs games all season.

It's a testament to Kirtley's fitness that he managed to remain injury free all summer.

Martin-Jenkins missed a single Championship and National League match through injury, bowling a total of 507 overs in all cricket as well as batting at a crucial slot in the middle order.

Adams admits there were occasions last season when both should have been ordered to put their feet up and re-charge their batteries.

He said: "There were a couple of games at Eastbourne and Colwyn Bay when, in hindsight, I should have insisted both or either of them should have had off.

"But it is a very difficult situation. Robin and James were striving for England A selection and they desperately wanted to do well for Sussex because at the time we had gone off the boil a bit.

"I remember travelling up to Colwyn Bay and thinking I definitely wanted one of them to have a break. But on the morning of the game against Glamorgan the pitch was emerald green when we got to the ground and all the seamers wanted to play when they saw it, which is understandable.

"The trouble was, by the time I had won the toss and stuck them in the sun had dried it out and it was as flat as anything and we all know what happened when they batted."

Adams won't have any worries about insisting his key bowlers have a breather this summer for two reasons.

The first is that the county have decided to play two spinners where possible which means only three seamers being selected.

His first choice trio look like being Kirtley, Lewry and Martin-Jenkins, but there is quality back-up in Mark Robinson, Billy Taylor and the emerging Paul Havell.

Adams has gone on record before to say that he feels uncomfortable when Robinson isn't following him down the pavilion steps. Lewry's greater wicket-taking ability gets him the nod in four-day matches, but Robinson has already proved his reliability in the one-day game this season, most notably against Kent when a Benson and Hedges Cup best 4-29 earned him a first gold award in his 34th match in the competition.

The feeling around Hove is that Sussex have still to see the best of Taylor, who is recovering after an injury plagued start to the campaign, while Havell, the quickest bowler at the county, seems ready to fulfill the potential which first emerged when he pitched up at the nets in Melbourne during the last Ashes tour and knocked Mike Atherton's poles out of the ground with his first ball.

"It's not wrong for our main bowlers to want to play every game, but a season of county cricket is extremely tough on the body and we must look after our guys," added Adams.

"We now have three quality seamers as back up to James, Jason and Robin especially now Paul Havell has come into the reckoning.

"Havell has always had ability, but before he liked a joke maybe too much. Now he's got serious. He's improving and maturing all the time and I have been really impressed with him in the nets which is why we gave him a chance against Cambridge."