It is no wonder that skipper Ed Joyce cut an exhausted figure on the balcony at Hove after Sussex’s final game of the season last week.

The Ireland international’s first full year as captain was certainly not the most comfortable of rides as Sussex experienced some amazing highs and the lowest of lows.

The record books will show that Sussex finished the season trophyless for the fourth year in a row but that does not even scratch the surface.

Along the way Joyce and coach Mark Robinson had to deal with the erratic behaviour of the club’s star international spinner which led to Monty Panesar being shown the door.

There is no doubt Panesar’s antics – which led to him being issued with a fixed penalty notice by police following an incident outside a nightclub in August – had a destabilising effect on the whole team throughout a summer which had begun so positively.

A ten-match unbeaten run in the Championship had raised hopes of a first title since 2007 but it turned out to be false optimism as Sussex ended up a distant third in the table.

That was still an improvement on the fourth place in 2012 and fifth the year before and shows the club are moving in the right direction.

When you consider they finished above counties the size of Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire and Surrey – not to mention Somerset – it underlines how well Sussex did in four-day cricket.

Nobody can say for certain but if Panesar had been at his best throughout the summer then maybe they would have pushed Durham all the way in the title race rather than fading badly in the last six games.

It would have also been interesting to see how Sussex would have fared at Durham with a full-strength team in a game they had to win to maintain their title hopes but slumped to a humiliating defeat in the absence of five international players.

The fact Sussex were in contention for the title in the first place was largely down to the efforts of two players – although that should not take anything away from the crucial contributions of the rest of the squad.

Each and every player played his part over the course of the season but Steve Magoffin and Chris Jordan were the undisputed stars.

The fact Magoffin took 63 wickets was not a massive surprise as he continued where he had left off following his glittering debut season at Hove.

The scale of the impact Jordan made was a complete shock, however.

The 24-year-old was a revelation following his winter switch from Surrey who must be cursing how they let such a talent slip away.

Jordan’s previous best haul for a Championship season was just 20 wickets so to finish as fourth leading wicket-taker in division one with 59 once again emphasised Sussex’s ability to take a risk on players who have lost their way a little and turn them into gems.

Together with James Anyon, Sussex’s seam attack plundered 172 wickets which was by far the most in the country and are the foundations they can build a title challenge on in 2014.

When you consider two batsmen – Joyce and Chris Nash – reached 1,000 runs for the season and Luke Wells fell just short it makes you wonder how they did not finish higher than third.

While there were plenty of positives to look back on in four-day cricket the same cannot be said for the limited overs game.

The Sharks have been one of the dominant forces in one-day cricket in recent years and, on paper, appeared to have a team capable of continuing that success.

The arrival of Jordan and Rory Hamilton-Brown together with the signings of Scott Styris and Dwayne Smith as overseas players for t20 made for a formidable line-up but for one reason or another things just did not click.

The t20 campaign was a complete write-off with Sussex winning just one game to finish rooted to the bottom of the south group.

It may have been different if they had won tight finishes in three of their first four games but ultimately they were not good enough.

To make things worse their desperate t20 performances had a knock-on effect on their Championship form as a team drained of confidence went down in pivotal games to Middlesex and Derbyshire at home on the back of that losing run.

It was the first season since 2008 they did not qualify for the knockout stages and hopefully it will have a similar effect next year as they went on to lift the trophy in 2009.

Although not quite as disastrous, the YB40 campaign was also a letdown as they finished third in group A to miss out on a place in the semi-finals for the first time since 2010.

Unlike the t20 there was also cause for optimism amidst the disappointment as the Sharks belatedly found a successful formula to win their final four games.

That suggests most of the pieces are there – with one or two significant additions over the winter – to challenge for silverware again next season but, as this summer proved, you never know what is around the corner.