‘We aren’t competing’ – Sussex head coach Farbrace makes admission after T20 defeat to Essex

The Chelmsford loss was Sussex’s fifth in six games and leaves them unlikely to qualify for the knockout stages.

Farbrace said: “It is a run of games that show we have an awful lot of work to do as a team. Last week I shared my views in very blunt terms my views and since then there has been no point in having raised voiced in the changing room at the end of a game because we know we have an awful amount of work to do.

"I said at the Ageas Bowl that we were taught a lesson in every aspect of the game and tonight I guess is another of those lessons. We talk about wanting to be aggresive and positive in the way that we play but we're not. We're not laying a glove on the opposition. We are meandering to a score without any real purpose. It is clear our batters have a lot of work to do.

"That is on me as much as the team. My job, with the other coaches, is to improve players and team performance, and we are not doing that at the moment. It isn't a case of me telling players that they need to get better because I include myself in that. I've still got a lot of learning to do. I want to learn and make this team better every day.

"We have a group of people who work exceptionally hard and we have got talent but what we're not doing at the moment is harnassing that into a team performance, and that is frustrating.

"It is not good enough what we are doing and it will be another night of laying awake at 3 or 4am staring at the ceiling and thinking how what we can do to improve things. What can I do or say in practice or team meetings?

"I'm not going to give up on this tournament and say that it is gone now and we should focus on Championship cricket because every game is an opportunity to learn and get better. We can't just throw the towel in and make excuses.

"I don't think we are the best team in the tournament when you compare our players to other teams but that doesn't mean that in T20 anyone can't beat anyone. All you need is a couple of players in your team to have a good night and the game can go your way.

"At the moment we aren't doing that and as individuals and as a team we aren't competing and that's the hardest bit for me. I don't care how good Essex are as we aren't making teams work hard to beat us."

Michael Pepper continued his Vitality Blast form as his 48 and Sam Cook’s four-for set up the five-wicket victory for Essex. Batter Pepper was the Eagles’ top scorer in 2022 with 439 runs and has belated started 2023, after injury, with 63 and a stylish 48.

Fast bowler Cook had helped restrict the Sharks to 147 with four for 20 despite Ravi Bopara’s 50, before Pepper and Adam Rossington broke the chase with 76 for the second wicket. Matt Critchley and Daniel Sams completed the win with 31 balls to spare as Sussex were condemned to a third straight defeat, as Essex chalked up their third victory from five matches.

In the chase, Dan Lawrence was caught at mid-on second ball but Pepper and Rossington got the Eagles off to a flier with 77 runs coming in the powerplay. Henry Crocombe was Rossington’s victim with a variety of scoops and pulls to and over the boundary in a healthy 21 run over.

Nathan McAndrew also was sprayed for 21 at the other end in a 10 ball over with Pepper using his crease to create angles to crash four fours. Rossington flamingoed his fourth six but his stay ended when he turned Tymal Mills around the corner to short leg, before Robin Das and Paul Walter followed quickly.

Pepper popped Bopara back over his head but Shadab Khan pinned him lbw on the reverse sweep. But Critchley and Sams eased to the finish line with a 45-run stand.

Sussex chose to bat and lost three Toms – Clark, Haines and Alsop – in the powerplay but Bopara steadied things with Shadab Khan and Michael Burgess.

Bopara played 67 home T20 matches for Essex, having played for the inaugural 2003 season to 2019, with all but one coming at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford. He knows the dimensions of the ground better than most.

On this occasion he targeted the leg side boundary on the Doug Insole Pavilion side, dragging Ben Allison for six from outside the off stump before to slog sweeps off Simon Harmer. He added 35 with Shadab, and after the Pakistani was bowled by Walter’s first ball, Burgess helped bring 40 in 24 balls.

Bopara’s 46th T20 fifty came in 30 balls but he departed when Shane Snater grabbed some air to catch at long-on.

Sussex would only score another 33 in the last six overs as Critchley had James Coles and McAndrew in the 16th over, Cook returned four for 20 as he had Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Burgess caught in the same over. Sams got the wicket his tight bowling deserved when Tymal Mills chipped to a diving Harmer at cover as Sussex were bowled out for 147 with three balls unused.