Sussex look like finishing the season bottom of the National League after suffering their eighth Division Two defeat against Lancashire at Hove last night.

The visitors squeezed home by four wickets with five balls to spare to leave the Sharks eight points adrift of next to bottom Hampshire with four matches to go.

The county were bowled out for 169 and skipper Chris Adams admitted it was another below-par batting performance.

"We were 20-30 runs short of what would have been a decent total on that wicket," said Adams.

"All credit to our bowlers and fielders who fought back well to make a game of it and we got terrific support from the crowd, but it wasn't to be."

Adams believes his side's batsmen need to raise their game '15-20 per cent' if the county are to have any chance of dragging themselves off the bottom of the table.

"Our batting has been a problem all season. If you look at the averages none of our batsmen are up there.

"There are four games to play and if we bowl and field like we did last night then we have got a chance."

The sides meet again in the Championship at Hove tomorrow (11am).