Mike Yardy did his best to make his competitive debut as captain a winning one but Sussex's failure to post a more imposing total proved their undoing in Bristol yesterday.

Yardy top-scored with 58 batting at No.6 in the Friends Provident Trophy opener but of his team-mates only Matt Prior, who was out to the next ball after reaching his 22nd one-day half-century, got the measure of an experienced Gloucestershire seam attack and a slow, seaming pitch.

Thanks to Yardy’s ninth-wicket stand of 35 with Will Beer, when they took their batting powerplay in the 44th over, Sussex scrambled to 227 in 49.5 overs.

It gave his bowlers something to defend and when Yardy ran out Alex Gidman from backward point in the 25th over to reduce Gloucestershire to 106-3 Sussex had a chance.

However the dependable Craig Spearman, one of three New Zealanders in a side coached by another Kiwi in John Bracewell, made the most of a reprieve on 17 when he was dropped badly by Rory Hamilton-Brown at extra cover.

Spearman struck 69 and Chris Taylor prospered after a shaky start with 68 in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 122 as Gloucestershire eased home with 22 balls to spare.

Coach Mark Robinson said: “It was a nearly game for us. It was a great toss to win because the ball did a lot early on.

“We battled through it and got ourselves into a decent position but kept losing wickets.

“The top five all got in and then got out which was really frustrating when we needed one of them to go on and get a big score. It was a competitive total but we needed things to go our way.

“The Gidman lbw decision was astonishing and then Rory dropped Spearman when he would catch that nine times out of ten. You can’t control things like the toss and umpires’ decisions but can when it comes to your own decision-making when you bat and catching and we fell short.”

Yardy juggled his resources imaginatively in search of a breakthrough and used seven bowlers, but it was a mixed day for Sussex’s four one-day debutants.

Both Ed Joyce and Joe Gatting found it hard going at the top after Gloucestershire predictably decided to bowl first.

Even with a noon start there was still enough juice in the pitch to keep the seamers interested and Gatting nicked Jon Lewis to the wicketkeeper after making nine from 25 deliveries.

Joyce will have been disappointed that having done the hard bit by batting for 74 minutes and facing 46 balls he mis-timed an attempted drive at Steve Kirby.

Australian Damien Wright only arrived on Friday so he can be excused some rustiness, but he still bowled at a decent pace and was convinced he had Gidman caught behind in the third over. So was everyone else including the Gloucestershire captain, who started to walk, but umpire Richard Kettleborough’s finger stayed down.

Of the quartet, Beer probably had most reason to be satisfied. The 20-year-old helped Yardy take Sussex past 200 with some unflustered batting at No. 10 and bowled his leggies tidily enough in two spells.

Crucially, though, Sussex did not put together a stand higher than two of 42.

Prior looked in good touch after a three-week break, reaching a 63-ball half-century with his fourth boundary before immediately miscuing a drive to mid-off.

That was the first of three wickets for left-arm spinner Vikram Bannerjee who took two in successive balls to reduce Sussex to 180-8 in the 44th after Luke Wright’s run-a-ball 40 from No. 5.