David Wiese admits Sussex were too inconsistent as their hopes of making the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup came to a soggy end.

The Sharks’ slim hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time were washed away by the weather at the Ageas Bowl yesterday.

Luke Wright’s men needed to beat Hampshire and hope Surrey failed to win at Gloucestershire to sneak through in third place in the South Group.

The rain helped them realise one part of that equation as Surrey’s game was abandoned without a ball being bowled but it proved in vain as constant downpours ensured no play was possible at the Ageas Bowl either.

It was a frustrating conclusion to a campaign which had looked so promising when Sussex strung together three consecutive victories over Glamorgan, Kent and Surrey to top the group.

But defeats to Essex at Chelmsford and Gloucestershire at Eastbourne meant they were relying on others doing them a favour as well as the weather.

Wiese said: “We came into this game knowing other results had to go our way and we had to get on and win this game. For us to not even get a chance to get on and play is very disappointing.

“It is very disappointing not to get through to the play-offs but in that aspect we only have ourselves to blame.

“We have played good cricket at certain times and had some nice momentum winning three games on the bounce but in the last two games against Essex and Gloucestershire we just let ourselves down.

“The skill levels weren’t quite there and something didn’t click in those games.

“We haven’t played consistently enough to play in the play-offs.

“In the Essex game we had them in a spot of bother but when we were on top things didn’t go our way.”

Essex won a rain-curtailed game against Kent at Canterbury – the only match to beat the weather – to claim top spot in the South Group and a home semi-final. They will play the winnner of the quarter-final between Somerset and Nottinghamshire.

Worcestershire topped the North Group and will play either Yorkshire or Surrey in the last four.

Sussex will now turn their attention to a 50-over match against the touring South Africans at Hove tomorrow (2pm) before resuming their County Championship division two campaign with the visit of Durham on Sunday.