Peter Moores insists Sussex’s tussle with old rivals Lancashire is a big enough occasion even without his sentimental return to Hove.

Moores is back at the county he served for 20 years as a player and coach today but he will be in the visitors’ dressing room for the Championship opener after taking over as Lancashire coach last month.

He supervised a training session at the County Ground yesterday and admitted: “It’s great to be back.”

But Moores will only regard it as a successful return if Lancashire repeat last season’s win over Sussex at Hove.

He said: “It is going to be nice to see everyone again and catch up with the players, the people behind the scenes and the supporters.

“But it’s only the teams who are allowed on the players’ balcony so once the game starts I will be up there with my red rose on and wanting Lancashire to do well.

“As soon as I saw that my first Championship game was at Hove I was excited because for Lancashire Sussex away is always a big game and to have it so early just adds to the occasion if you like.

“Me coming back is obviously going to add spice but Sussex-Lancashire games have never needed much of a build up.”

Moores returned to cricket management less than two months after losing his job as England coach in early January.

He has strong links with Lancashire, having watched cricket at Old Trafford when he was growing up in nearby Macclesfield.

He added: “Lancashire were about to close the applications for the job when I got a phone call from (Director of Cricket) Mike Watkinson saying that if I wanted to put an application in they would wait.

“It was a pretty rigorous interview process with some very good candidates but that was fine because I wanted to get the job on merit.

“But the more it went on and the more I knew what it would entail the more I wanted the job.

“I had a couple of weeks before we went to Dubai for pre-season to get to know the backroom staff and since then it has been full on. But we got a win on Sunday (against Glamorgan in the FP Trophy) and we’re looking forward to coming down to Hove.”

For the first time in years Lancashire do not have the added pressure of being favourites to land their first outright title since 1934.

Moores knows all about getting a side to slip under the radar in 2003 after guiding unfancied Sussex the first Championship in their history and in a competitive first divsion he believes both his current and former counties can challenge, although England commitments are likely to affect Lancashire more than Sussex.

He said: “We have lost Dominic Cork and Stuart Law and in a couple of weeks I don’t expect us to see much of Freddie Flintoff or James Anderson for the rest of the season.

“We are a bit vulnerable to injuries because we haven’t quite got the squad depth but there are some good youngsters, just as there are at Sussex, desperate for opportunities.

“We saw at Sussex in 2003 that if you can get some momentum early on it can carry you a long way if you have a really tight unit and that is what we’re trying to build.”

Sussex (from): Nash, Yardy (capt), Joyce, Goodwin, Prior (wk), L.Wright, Martin-Jenkins, Rayner, D.Wright, Aga, Collymore, Smith, Kirtley, Gatting.

Lancashire (from): Chapple, Anderson, Chilton, Croft, du Plessis, Hogg, Horton, Keedy, Mahmood, Newby, Prince, Smith, Sutton.

How will Sussex do this week and what are their chances of winning the Championship?