Chris Nash and Luke Wright ready to return for Sussex against Lancashire

Nash made his first appearance of the season playing in two games for the Sussex Seconds at his home ground Horsham along with England star Luke Wright, and both are in the frame for the match at Old Trafford, which begins on Sunday.

Opening batsman Nash has missed the first three Division One matches after rupturing his appendix in April, but both he and Wright hit half centuries opening together in a two-day friendly and then came through a one-day Second XI Trophy victory over the same opponents Surrey at Cricketfield Road on Wednesday.

“It was lovely to get out there and get a couple of days of cricket under my belt and just good to come through it,” said Sussex vice captain Nash. “I hadn’t played since last June and obviously with Horsham being my home ground it was the perfect place to make my return.

“It was nice to get some runs in the two-day game and really important for me to get some time out in the middle.

“Probably more important was the chance to field, running and diving about a lot and it was nice to have a bowl and take a wicket so all looks good for this Sunday.”

Spinner Will Beer captained the side and fellow Horsham batsman Ben Shoare also played as Sussex beat Surrey by three wickets in their opening Second XI Trophy match.

With Ed Joyce away with Ireland, Nash is expected to captain the side against Lancs and there is the further boost of a first appearance of the season as well for all-rounder Wright, whose side strain kept him out of World Twenty20 with England.

Nash said: “Luke and I are both now fit having got those games under our belts, he’s an international and one of our best players so it’s great he’s ready to go too.

“Joycie has hit most of our runs so far so it will tough to replace a bloke who’s averaging around 100 and it means it’s up to the pair of us to come straight in and hit runs along with everyone else to hopefully get the right result.”

Nash struck more than 1,000 runs in Division One last year at an average of 44.66 and made his first century for his county at Old Trafford back in 2008, which was also the last time Sussex played there with the ground being revamped in recent years.

Sussex still lead the way in Division One despite their heavy defeat by an innings and 11 runs this week as Somerset avenged a similarly one-sided defeat they suffered at Horsham last summer.

“It’s going to be one of those seasons where anyone can beat anyone because there are nine very good teams in the division this season,” Nash said. “With it still being early in the season the wickets are still damp underneath and pretty spicy.

“It’s shown that teams who get on top on day one can push home their advantage and knock teams over and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do on Sunday.”