Sussex's stuttering start to the new season continued after defeat to Kent effectively ended their hopes of progress in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Without four of their best players, the Sharks never recovered from losing six wickets for 24 runs at the end of their innings.

Instead of posting a competitive total of 250-plus, they finished on 218-9 and Kent Spitfires made short work of their run chase on a pitch which got easier to bat on thanks to an unbroken second-wicket stand of 174 between Martin van Jaarsveld and Joe Denly.

With only one victory the Sharks will need to win their three remaining games to have any chance of nicking second place in a competitive South-East group.

There were some positives at Canterbury. Mike Yardy justified his promotion with a half-century from the opener's slot and Rory Hamilton-Brown's 35 off 41 balls represented a decent debut for the former Surrey batsman.

But, as coach Mark Robinson has reminded his side, 30s and 40s are not enough. A feature of Sussex's batting in the competition so far is their consistent and collective failure to turn decent starts into match-winning contributions. Robinson's message does not appear to be getting through, Chris Adams 109 not out against Middlesex last Monday the notable exception.

In the absence of Matt Prior in the last two games, Sussex have struggled to take advantage of the powerplays while the bowling attack looks worryingly short of star quality while Mushtaq Ahmed recovers from his knee injury.

There was another blow on the morning of the game when Murray Goodwin had to return to Sussex because his son had fallen ill.

Losing a trio of that quality as well as Luke Wright left Sussex with some big holes to fill but to some extent they were the architects of their own downfall, which will frustrate Robinson even more.

They were well placed in the 41st over at 192-3, Carl Hopkinson and Hamilton-Brown having added 74 in 13 overs without any alarms.

Their running between the wickets was excellent and Hamilton-Brown's ability to find the gaps was impressive.

Hopkinson enjoyed the opportunity to play a longer innings from No. 4, three places up the order than he normally occupies. He timed the ball as well as any of his team-mates until a paddle-sweep off Simon Cook looped up gently off his bat.

It was a risky shot played at a time when such a bold approach was not necessary and worse followed in the next over. Hamilton-Brown had judged the quick singles well but he took on van Jaarsveld's arm at mid-wicket and turned in horror to see Andrew Hodd run out by a direct hit.

Perhaps the incident was still praying on Hamilton-Brown's mind because little else could explain why he had a horrible mow across the line in Cook's next over. After that, none of the lower-order batsmen could pick up the momentum.

It had been hard work too against the new ball and Sussex were becalmed for a while when they scored only seven runs in seven overs after reaching 34-0 in the sixth.

Chris Nash once again squandered a promising start when he came down the pitch to Yasir Arafat and Yardy and Adams had to be alert as the ball jagged around.

Adams was just starting to look confident and was mortified to be given out leg before to a ball from Cook he clearly thought he had hit first.

Yardy passed 50 for the second time this season but had added only four more when he fell to the second ball from off-spinner James Tredwell, overbalancing as he tried to drive him down the pitch.

Yardy and fellow left-arm spinner Tom Smith have bowled well in tandem but by the time they came together in the 22nd over the game was already slipping away from Sussex.

Robin Martin-Jenkins did have Matt Walker caught behind as he fenced fatally outside off stump but van Jaarsveld carted the next ball over mid-wicket for six and if Sussex feared the worst at that point it was with every justification.

The South African's 109 not out, off 102 balls with nine fours and three sixes, was his second in the competition this season while Denly seemed to feed on his partner's confidence and made 83 from 123 balls (7x4, 1x6).

Adams used eight bowlers to no avail and while Sussex never stopped trying in the field Kent had 7.5 overs to spare. A side playing with lots of confidence had beaten one who need a break at the moment.