The customary, if incomprehensible, way to begin a tour nowadays is for one or two first-class matches to be staged before starting a Test series. This was how England determined to retain the Ashes in Australia, how West Indies began their summer here, and how India's visit has been scheduled. At least there was some sunshine yesterday, if little hint of the wristy genius of Ranji that still yokes the Orient with Hove.
It was attritional stuff - there were just 12 runs in 65 minutes by Wasim Jaffer, who will almost certainly open the batting in the first Test against England at Lord's. Dinesh Karthik, who will partner him, was no less circumspect, reaching a half-century in more than two hours before he was out in the last over before tea. Both scored centuries in the last Test they played, against Bangladesh in May, and quite rightly they wanted to spend some time in the middle in different conditions.
From the perspective of the Sussex supporters, who have gorged, if that is the right word, on three Twenty20 fixtures in four days, there is no Sachin Tendulkar to watch in this match, and Rahul Dravid, the supreme technician, did not come in until after tea, although he had an unbeaten half-century to his name by the close, achieved with customary poise.
There was a half-century also by Gautam Gambhir, who, despite having little or no chance of playing at Lord's, was given an opportunity to bat for a long time, and he took it. Normally an aggressive left-hander, one who often gets caught in the slips attempting an extravagant drive, on this occasion he collected 81 runs off all the bowlers, including Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan off-spinner, who gained British citizenship on Monday.
Meanwhile, Oli Rayner, the off-spinner nurtured in Sussex, was not given a single over before tea.
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The manner in which India are beginning this tour is bizarre. They are fortunate not to have been scheduled to start in the traditional way at Worcester, which has been under water. Instead, they were supposed to have had five one-day fixtures in Scotland and Ireland, of which one was abandoned and another, according to Tendulkar, was played in the worst conditions he could recall.
"Our Belfast experience will help us," he said, "because we won't get anything worse than that." Time was when crowds filled Worcester or Arundel, the other traditional venue at the start of a tour. Yesterday play did not start till noon, to the mystification of members and the media.
The start was put back owing to the Twenty20 match the previous day having finished at 8.15pm. That and the fact that the county champions were without five first-team regulars would indicate where priorities lie in 2007. Could not the England and Wales Cricket Board have found a better way of organising the fixture list, or is there simply too much cricket to be fitted in?
Also, for some reason this match is of four days' duration, whereas India's other first-class fixture before Lord's, against England A, lasts for only three days.
In addition to this, Mike Yardy, who was released from England's one-day squad and was free to captain Sussex, did not take the field until 4.15pm.
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Nobody seemed certain whether he was coming by car or train; whatever, his journey took a mighty long time. Chris Liddle made way for him, having had a decent bowl.
Sussex were without Chris Adams, Murray Goodwin, Mushtaq Ahmed, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Luke Wright. Even if two of these had niggles on the morning of the match, as was claimed, Adams did not play against Sri Lanka last year, when Sussex fielded an even weaker XI.
John Carr, the director of England Cricket, said counties had been warned in the past that fixtures against tourists would be in jeopardy if they fielded weak sides.
"They are strongly encouraged to play as strong a side as possible," he said. His words seem to be falling on deaf ears.
Scoreboard
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Sussex v India Hove (first day of four, India won toss): India, with seven first-innings wickets in hand, lead Sussex by 281 runs
India
K D Karthik b Mushtaq 76
W Jaffer c Hodd b Martin-Jenkins 12
G Gambhir c & b Yardy 81
*R Dravid not out 57
V V S Laxman not out 37
Extras (b 11, lb 5, w 1) 18
Total (3 wkts, 90 overs) 2081
To bat: S Sreesanth, A Kumble, Yuvraj Singh, †M S Dhoni, R P Singh and R R Bose
Fall: 1-37, 2-166, 3-206
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Bowling: Lewry 14-5-38-0; Kirtley 18-6-56-0; Martin-Jenkins 13-2-29-1; Liddle 15-1-48-0; Mushtaq 19-4-47-1; Yardy 9-1-33-1; Rayner 2-0-14-0
Sussex: *M H Yardy, J D Lewry, †A J Hodd, M A Thornely, C J Liddle, R R Montgomerie, R S C Martin-Jenkins, R J Kirtley, C D Hopkinson, Saqlain Mushtaq and C D Nash
Umpires: R Palmer and R T Robinson