Sussex will hope their next visit to Edgbaston is more productive after they made a disappointing start to their Pro40 League campaign yesterday.

Six days before they return to Birmingham for their first appearance at Twenty20 finals day, they suffered a seven-wicket defeat to a Worcestershire side who cantered to victory with four overs to spare thanks to an unbroken stand of 110 between Graeme Hick and Ben Smith.

Sussex's problems started when their last seven wickets fell for just 22 runs in six overs after half centuries from Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin had given them the ideal platform for a total of around 230 which would have been very competitive on a slow pitch.

Instead, they were dismissed for 200 and the home side were always in control after Solanki and Phil Jacques had taken 53 off the first eight overs.

The consolation for Sussex is that they have gained some useful knowledge of what conditions are expected to be like on Saturday.

They may not have had as much rainfall in Birmingham as Worcestershire recently but all three days of Warwickshire's game here against Sri Lanka A last week were washed out and yesterday's pitch, like so many around the country at the moment, was underprepared.

A dry forecast should help the groundsman ahead of Saturday but Sussex will be playing second, and hopefully third, on the same wicket so they can expect to have to contend with a similarly slow, low surface as yesterday.

The atmosphere should be a lot more inspiring with a 21,000 full house expected.

This was the fifth different home' venue Worcestershire have used since the first of two floods left New Road under water six weeks ago and they did well to pull in 1,500 spectators - their numbers boosted when some of the 750 guests attending a colourful Asian wedding in one of the hospitality suites wandered in to watch the action.

It looked a good toss to win by Chris Adams even though Chris Nash got a leading edge to the third ball as Montgomerie and Goodwin put on 106 in 22 overs for the second wicket with few alarms.

Solanki made five bowling changes in six overs but it failed to stall Sussex's momentum until Goodwin, who had reached his 50 off the previous delivery with a six over mid-wicket, top-edged a sweep to give off-spinner Gareth Batty the first of three wickets.

Montgomerie had carried on where he had left off in the FP Trophy two months ago when he averaged 68.28 and it was a surprise when he perished in soft fashion, gloving an attempted pull down the leg side after scoring 65 off 80 balls with eight fours.

Adams seemed to be providing the acceleration with 43 off 40 balls but he holed out to deep mid-wicket in the 34th over and the rest of the batting subsided to a succession of poor shots.

Not everyone was culpable. Saqlain Mushtaq and Robin Martin-Jenkins tried to repair the damage caused by the loss of five wickets in three overs but Mike Yardy, Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved all took unnecessary risks and Sussex found themselves short.

The look of thunder on coach Mark Robinson's face as the dressing room door swung back and forth suggested he will make sure the lessons are digested for future one-day assignments.

Worcestershire's strength is definitely their batting and Solanki and Jacques pasted the new ball attack of James Kirtley and Rana Naved, forcing Adams to turn to his spinners after just seven overs.

The ploy worked to an extent. Saqlain Mushtaq flattened Jacques off stump in his first over and Yardy persuaded Moeen Ali to play all round a straight one immediately after coming on.

Wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd's quick-thinking ended a stylish contribution from Solanki, who hit seven fours and two sixes in his 55 off 53 balls. As the batsman waited to see if umpire Allan Jones was going to uphold Mushtaq's leg before appeal he ran him out as he strayed out of his ground.

Another wicket at that stage would have given Sussex hope but Smith and Hick were two wise heads in a mini crisis. Saqlain bowled well and deserved more reward but when the seamers returned the batsmen had things well under control, Hick winning the match with a straight six off Martin-Jenkins, the ball after he had lodged the 137th half-century of his one-day career.