Mark Robinson today urged his star batsman not to panic over a slump in form.

Murray Goodwin missed out in both innings as Sussex were thrashed by ten wickets by Middlesex in the County Championship.

He scored nought and five at Lord’s and has reached double figures just twice in 11 innings.

Robinson would not say whether Goodwin’s place is under threat for Surrey’s visit to Horsham, which starts on Wednesday.

But he admitted: “When your best player isn’t scoring runs it’s a problem for any side.

“It would be a problem for England with Kevin Pietersen, it would be a problem for India with Sachin Tendulkar. It hurts you.

“The main thing with Murray is making sure he doesn’t over-practise or over-scrutinise.

“Of course you look at technical things but usually runs of poor form like this are all in the mind.

“His confidence is down a little bit.”

Asked if Goodwin could now be withdrawn from the firing line, Robinson said: “We will deal with that closer to the time.”

Sussex suffered frustration in the CB40 yesterday when their match with Unicorns at Southend was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.