Luke Wright said Sussex were beaten by an outstanding innings as they suffered their first T20 defeat of the season.

But the Sharks skipper has urged his side not to get too down after a 23-run defeat to Surrey at a sold-out Hove.

England opener Jason Roy made 109 from 67 balls to underpin a commanding total of 205-4 as Surrey opted to bat first.

Surrey’s overseas pair Kumar Sangakkara (54 off 31 balls) and Dwayne Bravo (30 off 14) gave Roy excellent support and Sussex were always struggling after losing two wickets in the first two overs.

Ross Taylor made 51 but the Sharks finished short on 182-5.

Wright said: “We are disappointed to lose but Jason Roy batted outstandingly well.

“It was very hard to stop him. You always hope with Jase that he might do something a bit silly!

“But I thought it was an outstanding innings and one I haven’t seen that many times from him.

“He played the game well, went deep and got the hundred we were always going to need if we were to chase them down.

“I don’t think you can ever say 200 here is par. We probably got par getting 180 but fair play to him. He showed why he is playing for England.

“Probably on reflection we gave them too many hittable balls.

“But sometimes you have got to say ‘Well played’ to Jason Roy and Sangakkara.”

Sussex opened their campaign with wins over Gloucestershire and Somerset.

Wright added: “We dust ourselves off. We said after the last result ‘Let’s not get too high’.

“Every group is so difficult and every game is going to be tough.”

Surrey lost Steven Davies (3) in the fourth over but the experienced Sangakkara was the perfect foil for Roy.

He took a particular liking to David Wiese, hitting him for two fours and a six off successive balls in the 11th over which cost 17 runs.

Sangakkara reached his 50 in the 15th over and celebrated with two scoop shots for four off Ajmal Shahzad before falling lbw trying to repeat the stroke off the next ball.

Sussex’s chase never got sufficient momentum – thanks partly to the Curran brothers.

Chris Nash toe-ended his third ball to mid-on Tom Curran to give Sam Curran a wicket on his 18th birthday and Ben Brown upper-cut to third man Sam Curran off Tom Curran in the next over.

Wright and Taylor put on 88 in 10.3 overs and hopes were rising that they could pull off a remarkable run chase.

Then Zafar Ansari struck two decisive blows in the 13th over. An unusually subdued Wright (34 from 30 balls) holed out to deep mid-wicket and Taylor, whose 51 from 36 balls included three sixes, was smartly stumped down the leg side by Gary Wilson.