The long faces on the visitors' balcony said it all as Sussex's depressing Twenty20 Cup campaign continued with their third defeat out of four at Canterbury.

Chasing Kent's 163-6, the Sharks were at least competitive for half of their reply. Indeed, both sides had made 57-4 after ten overs.

But whereas Kent, fortified by an unbeaten 49 from Matt Walker, accelerated in the second half of their innings to score another 93 runs, Sussex folded in an all too familiar fashion as they slumped to a 47-run defeat.

Only skipper Chris Adams has got to grips with the unique demands of crash-and-dab cricket this season and, while he was in, Sussex still had a chance.

But when he picked out his opposite number Andrew Symonds at mid on from the first ball of the 15th over the game was up. A crestfallen Adams showed admirable self-restraint not to demolish the stumps with a swing of his bat as he departed.

The Sharks at least managed to bat through all but one ball of their 20 overs which was an improvement on their last effort against Hampshire, but they finished well short on 116.

While Kent kept their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive, Sussex will head to Chelmsford for their final south group game with only pride to play for after an 11th one-day defeat out of 13.

Expect Carl Hopkinson and possibly Kevin Innes to get their first taste of Twenty20 against Essex.

Yet it had all started so well after Adams had won the toss and put Kent in.

Symonds had clubbed 112 off 43 balls against Middlesex earlier in the competition but last night he lasted just two deliveries before a flat-footed dab ended up in the hands of slip.

James Kirtley's delight was understandable because the burly Australian is always a crucial scalp. Perhaps Sussex's luck was turning.

For ten overs at least that looked to be the case as James Tredwell, Michael Carberry and Alex Loudon all departed but Walker and Rob Key smashed 66 off seven overs to turn the game.

Geraint Jones chipped in with 22 off ten deliveries at the end but Walker could not find the boundary with the last ball which would have brought up his half-century.

Still, 48 off 39 deliveries (3x4, 2x6) turned out to be the match-winning contribution.

Sussex have not successfully chased more than 114 in Twenty20 before so the omens were not good but they began confidently enough. Ian Ward and Matt Prior had 24 on the board after four overs before Prior became New Zealand paceman Ian Butler's first Kent wicket.

Then things started to go wrong as Sussex lost three wickets in seven balls and they never really recovered.

An improved bowling performance at least gave director of cricket Peter Moores some solace on another disappointing night for a side who cannot buy a win at the moment.

He said: "I thought their score was about par or even a bit below because the boundaries were quite short, but they had a couple of purple overs which got them going.

We weren't really able to do that.

"We lost three wickets quickly which put us under pressure and once the momentum shifts in one of these games it's very hard to get it back.

"Bowling-wise it was much better.

James Kirtley did well and Mushy bowled and fielded superbly - he's on fire at the moment."