Sussex were hammered at home after another soulless performance as they lost by 166 runs against Gloucestershire in a rain-curtailed 38-over match, writes Piyush Singh.

A magnificent 56-ball 106 by Jack Taylor helped Gloucestershire set up a mammoth target of 312 after being put into bat. Oliver Price (95 off 88) missed out on a well-deserved century.

There was a damning verdict by Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace, who said: “It’ll be pretty fair to say out-batted, out-bowled, and out-fielded.

"That’s a pretty quiet dressing room at the moment because they know they’ve been embarrassed.

“I can take losing and I’ve chatted about losing a fair bit in this competition which I’m not enjoying but that was probably the worst of the lot. You can’t go any lower than that.

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“None of us can go away from tonight with anything other than embarrassment and disappointment.”

Despite a good start with the ball which saw Chris Dent nick one straight to second slip in the second over off the bowling of Fynn Hudson-Prentice, the Sharks failed to control the flow of runs as the batters looked at ease throughout the innings.

Skipper James Bracey (41 off 36) looked in good touch before he cut one straight into the hands of Chesteshwar Pujara of the bowling off Jack Carson.

Sussex had some more joy as Carson and Danial Ibrahim struck in consecutive overs and Gloucestershire were reduced to 127-4 in the 19th. Miles Hammond was stumped as he missed a ball that spun away from him and Graeme Van Buuren was caught plumb.

What followed was an onslaught by Taylor and Price that enabled Gloucestershire to reach 250 just in the 31st over.

Price was caught in the deep as he looked to bring up his century in style. Taylor continued the assault and brought up his century striking at 200. Taylor was caught in the deep too as he looked to pull one of Henry Crocombe.

Henry Crocombe came back well to pick up 4-63 from his seven overs. Carson picked up two wickets but it wasn’t a pretty reading bowling card for the home team.

Farbrace said: “To be fair to our members and supporters we’ve got to show a bit of pride. We’ve got to show that we actually care about playing for Sussex.”

Sussex began their innings in stellar fashion but it all fell apart too quickly as they lost three wickets in eight balls.

Tom Haines (8 off 9) drove one straight into the hands of Dent off Tom Price.

Tom Alsop (5 off 7) was found short of his crease from a direct hit by Paul Van Meekeren.

Harrison Ward (27 off 19) looked dangerous before he was out to a scorching yorker by Taylor as the umpire adjudged him lbw and the Sharks were reduced to 45-3 in the sixth over.

Sussex could never cope up with the required run rate that kept climbing throughout their innings. Ibrahim was soon caught plumb by Van Meekeren. Pujara (32 off 40) was given out lbw as he looked to sweep Tom Smith. Sussex kept falling like ninepins as Charlie Tear drove one straight into the hands of Van Buuren in the very next over. Sussex were 130-7 at the end of 21 overs.

Carson and Hudson-Prentice didn’t hang around for long either as the pair was removed in consecutive overs and the scorecard read 142-9. Crocombe was the last wicket to fall as he was caught behind off Smith.

Smith chipped in with three wickets whereas Taylor, Van Meekeren, and Tom Price claimed two wickets each that helped Gloucestershire clean up Sussex for a paltry total of 145.

Farbrace dismissed rumours linking him to the job of director of cricket at Kent and confirmed he plans to stay at Sussex.