Date-stamped : 04 Aug97 - 14:31 Sussex endure yet more misery By Mike Beddow at Edgbaston Warwickshire (102-3) beat Sussex (162-9) by 26 runs SUSSEX can only hope it will be all right on the day when they return to Edgbaston for the NatWest Trophy semi-final next week. Their Sunday League defeat under the Duckworth-Lewis rain calculations put the seal on four miserable days in Birmingham. In two matches, they lost 29 wickets for 428 runs, and if yes- terday`s 162 for nine was closer to respectability on a 40-over sched- ule, it was not enough to hinder Warwickshire`s rise from third place to the top on run-rate from Lancashire, who were inactive yesterday. Lancashire do have a game in hand, but more importantly the two teams meet at Old Trafford next week. Meanwhile, to complete an unfavourable set of omens for Sus- sex, the same pitch is likely to be used for the Trophy match. Warwickshire are competitive on this kind of slow surface and they duly registered their 14th successive home victory in the Sun- day competition. On a grey, cheerless afternoon, the fear of a downpour only seemed to emphasise their superiority. The openers, Neil Smith and Anurag Singh, departed to Vasbert Drakes within seven overs, both dabbling outside the off stump, but by then 42 runs had been scored. This was almost doubled by David Hemp and Dougie Brown, and though the latter was run out for 23, they could have lost two more wick- ets and still have won when the computer was required to arbitrate af- ter 22 overs. Sussex`s batsmen may not have been as crestfallen as they were in the championship meeting, when they were dismissed for 63 in the first innings. However, four scores of 20 or more yesterday, and two others in double figures, did not amount to anything sub- stantial. Opener Keith Greenfield provided a reasonable platform until he was bowled by Gladstone Small, and suddenly a crisis was in the making when three more wickets fell for three runs in seven balls. The sluggish nature of the pitch was evident in the way many forcing strokes went wrong, but Neil Taylor survived a chance at short midwicket and instigated a middle-order improvement until Ash- ley Giles intervened with three wickets. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)