Coach Mark Robinson is 99 per cent certain Mushtaq Ahmed will be back in action for Sussex next week.

The 36-year-old leg-spinner has gone home to Pakistan after being ruled out of tonight's rain-ruined Friends Provident Trophy game against Glamorgan with a sore knee.

There he has had to deal with further speculation about the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer.

Reports earlier this week suggested Woolmer had been poisoned after traces of weedkiller were found on a champagne glass in the hotel room in Jamaica where he was found dead in March, a day after Pakistan had been knocked out of the World Cup.

Pakistan media manager Pervez Mir claimed yesterday that Mushtaq, who was Woolmer's No. 2, had given Woolmer two bottles of champagne days before his death.

Mir told a Pakistan TV station that team manager Talat Ali had witnessed Mushtaq passing the bottles to Woolmer in the team hotel.

Mushtaq insisted he had already explained the incident to Jamaican police during their initial investigations into Woolmer's death.

He said the champagne had been given to him by a friend and was intended for Mr Mir.

He said: "Bob came to my room to enquire about my health because I had been hit on the face by a ball during practice in the morning.

"Mr Woolmer asked me for the champagne and I gave them to him as the media manager was not there and I am not fond of liquor.

"The entire incident happened in front of some players who were sitting in my room when Bob came."

Mushtaq and other team members were questioned by police two days after Woolmer's death before being allowed to return to Pakistan.

The Pakistan Cricket Board refused to comment on Mir's statement and reiterated that there had been no further contact from Jamaican police and that they did not expect any of their players or support staff to be interviewed again over Woolmer's death.

Robinson said that Mushtaq had gone home to spend some time with his family.

He said: "With him being out of last night's game because of knee trouble it was a good time for him to have a break. Unfortunately, he has gone home and got caught up in the whole Woolmer thing again.

"He has had a traumatic few weeks but he will be okay. He is back on Sunday and we are 99 per cent certain he will be fit for the Surrey game."

Meanwhile, Sussex's hopes of defending the FP Trophy suffered another setback last night when their day-night game against Glamorgan had to be abandoned.

Just 19.4 overs of the Sussex innings were possible and although two further attempts at a re-start were made, the rain intervened again. Play was eventually called off at 7.45pm.

The Sharks have picked up three points from three matches in the south conference and will probably need to win four of their remaining five games to be sure of a place in the semi-finals. Their next match is away to Hampshire next Sunday.

They had reached 81-2 after Chris Adams maintained his record of losing every toss so far this season.

Alex Wharf picked up both openers. Chris Nash tried to pull a ball which didn't bounce and it cannoned onto his stumps off the bottom of his bat and Richard Montgomerie, who had already taken nine runs off the over, drove loosely got and was caught at slip.

Adams and Murray Goodwin had put on 33 in eight overs with Adams taking full toll of two wayward overs from Simon Jones before the rain returned.

Ashes hero Jones, who is on the comeback trail after knee surgery last June, sent down three wides in his first over, one of which went for four.

In his next over, Adams twice pulled him to the mid-wicket boundary.

The match had already been reduced to 43 overs and then 34 but another downpour meant both sides picked up one point each.

It was a frustrating night for Sussex who would have fancied their chances of beating a Glamorgan side without a win over a county side in 50-over cricket since 2001.

Do you expect Sussex to bounce back from their tough start to the season? Post your comments below