ESSEX will hope history is on their side when the Eagles start their home one-day season with the visit of Sussex Sharks to the Ford County Ground on Sunday.

Having secured a superb victory over Kent in their Friends Provident Trophy opener last weekend, Mark Pettini's men host the reigning county champions.

And with an all-time record of 37 wins in 56 one-day matches against the south coast county, Essex will be confident of building on their fine start to the season.Aside from victory at Canterbury, Northants were also swept aside in the LV County Championship as Pettini's side started 2008 with a flourish.

Essex have already beaten Sussex once this year, with Grant Flower scoring 59 not out to lead the Eagles to a thrilling one-wicket Pro ARCH Trophy success in Sharjah on March 20.

Graham Napier was also in superb form in the United Arab Emirates, hitting 50 from just 40 balls and taking three wickets, but the all-rounder is ruled out of Sunday's clash with a knee injury.

In the same competition Flower (55), Andre Nel (3/15), on-loan Kent paceman Martin Saggers (2/10) and Napier (2/16) were the stars in a crushing 132-run win at Arundel Castle.

Meanwhile, Essex also won September's Pro40 League meeting by 26 runs with Danish Kaneria taking five wickets.

ZIMBABWEAN In all, the Eagles have won the last four one-day fixtures between the two, with Sussex's last victory coming in May 2006 when Flower's fellow Zimbabwean Murray Goodwin hit 158 not out in a five-wicket success.

Goodwin is still with the Sharks, who have a formidable one-day side on paper with England's Luke Wright, Matt Prior and Michael Yardy in their ranks alongside veteran skipper Chris Adams and Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed.

However last season Sussex struggled in the shorter form of the game, finishing eighth in the Friends Provident Trophy South Conference and fifth in Pro40 Division One.

Adams' outfit fared better in Twenty20, meanwhile, reaching Finals Day before losing out to Kent in the semi-finals.

Essex hope to have wicketkeeper James Foster back after the 28-year-old missed this week's championship match at Derbyshire with a thumb injury.

Essex Eagles: (from) Pettini (capt), Gallian, Chopra, Bopara, Flower, Foster (wkt), ten Doeschate, Middlebrook, Phillips, Masters, Nel, Wright, Tudor, Westley, Wheater (wkt).

Sussex Sharks: (from) Nash, Hopkinson, Goodwin, Yardy, Adams, Prior (wkt), Wright, Martin-Jenkins, Aga, Liddle, Mushtaq, Hodd, Lewry, Thornely, Hamilton-Brown.