Paul Farbrace said Sussex had a poor night as they put a home quarter-final in jeopardy.

Sharks slipped to third in the Vitality Blast south group with a six-wicket defeat by Somerset at Taunton.

They were left needing to beat Middlesex at Hove on Friday night and hope Somerset, who leap-frogged them in the table with this result, lose to Glamorgan in Cardiff.

Head coach Farbrace, whose side set just 158-9, said: “It was poor from us. We got off to a reasonable start in the batting powerplay, but didn’t make the most of it.

“You get out of games what you put into them and tonight we were comprehensively beaten by a much better team.

“We thought playing the holders on their home ground would provide a benchmark, but Somerset were too good for us, judging the conditions better and playing the better cricket.

“At times our running between the wickets was schoolboyish. I can accept losing when, but not when we haven’t put everything into the game.

“We put them under no pressure in the field whatsoever and then dropped catches.”

Harrison Ward top-scored for Sussex with a rapid 39 and medium-pacer Ben Green finished with 4- 17 from three overs.

In reply, Somerset made 162-4 with 2.2 overs to spare, George Thomas blasting 42, with seven fours, Tom Abell 47 not out and Sean Dickson 28. Tymal Mills was the most successful Sharks bowler with 2-28.