Jason Gillespie has told Sussex to keep their heads up, despite a drubbing at Durham.

The county’s Championship promotion hopes suffered a big setback as they lost by 186 runs at Chester-le-Street while rivals Warwickshire and Kent won.

Gillespie admitted Sussex were below-par for two days at the Emirates Riverside.

But he said there can be no hangover as they head from the North East to Birmingham for Vitality Blast Finals Day.

The Sussex head coach said: “The Vitality Blast is a completely different format. We’re really excited about that.

“We’ve lost today and that’s disappointing but the overall feel around the squad is excellent.

“The whole club is buzzing about Finals Day, we’re really looking forward to that. We’ll put this game to bed quickly.

“As I said to the lads in the dressing room, as soon as we walk out of here, we’ll hold our heads high and move forward.”

Sussex under-performed while Durham strike bowler Chris Rushworth took 12 wickets in the match and opener Cameron Steel scored 160 in the second innings.

Gillespie said: “It was a couple of days to forget overall, if we’re perfectly honest.

“I think Durham outbatted and outbowled us. It’s something that we have to learn from.

“I’ve just spoken to the boys, it’s about individual self-reflection, what they can take away from this game and what they’ve learned.

"I thought Cameron Steel played very well, and Chris Rushworth bowled wonderfully well. It’s up to us to learn as much as we can from this game. While it’s disappointing and the lads are disappointed, it hurts to lose a cricket game in that manner. We must take something away from it and hopefully be better for the experience.”