Jean Tigana
Banned
Lancashire captain Warren Hegg admitted his side were thoroughly outplayed by Sussex in their Frizzell County Championship encounter at Old Trafford.
The match was billed as the champions against the champions-elect, but Sussex's overwhelming eight-wicket victory inside three days served as a timely reminder that Lancashire are far from certainties for the title.
This was their second successive defeat, coming on the back of a similarly resounding loss at Kent last week and allowed their conquerors to move to within two points of Lancashire in the table.
"Overall they've been the better side in everything they've done," said Hegg. "They batted better than us, they bowled better than us and fielded better than us.
"You're always going to be hard pushed to get a result when a team's all over you like that. They had a really good game and outclassed us.
"The damage was probably done on the first day," he added, referring to Sussex's close-of-play score of 458 for nine.
They were eventually bowled out for 470, of which Chris Adams contributed an unbeaten 150, and Lancashire were forced to follow-on after making a paltry 214.
They made 297 in the second innings to at least ensure Sussex would have to bat again, but a victory target of 42 was negotiated with few alarms.
"If you're out of the ball game or pushing uphill at four o'clock on the first day, it's always going to be hard to pull it back.
"It was disappointing to lose the toss but that's not an excuse. Conditions never changed in this game and we didn't get the ball in the right areas enough times on a wicket that was quite conducive to fast bowling.
"When you're playing against a batsman such as Chris Adams, who's really strong on anything that's off-line, you're going to struggle."
Though refusing to blame his younger bowlers, namely Sajid Mahmood and Steven Crook, Hegg claimed the absence of Peter Martin, who is recovering from a knee operation, was one of the main reasons behind Lancashire's ill-disciplined display.
"Maybe it was a bit of inexperience on the part of some of the bowlers," Hegg said. "I think a major factor was missing Peter Martin.
"It's a massive blow for us to lose him. At first I didn't think it would be as big a blow because we've got back-up, in young lads such as Kyle Hogg, Saj and Steven Crook.
"But the only way they're going to learn is by playing against good players, and hopefully they will learn by their mistakes."
The match was billed as the champions against the champions-elect, but Sussex's overwhelming eight-wicket victory inside three days served as a timely reminder that Lancashire are far from certainties for the title.
This was their second successive defeat, coming on the back of a similarly resounding loss at Kent last week and allowed their conquerors to move to within two points of Lancashire in the table.
"Overall they've been the better side in everything they've done," said Hegg. "They batted better than us, they bowled better than us and fielded better than us.
"You're always going to be hard pushed to get a result when a team's all over you like that. They had a really good game and outclassed us.
"The damage was probably done on the first day," he added, referring to Sussex's close-of-play score of 458 for nine.
They were eventually bowled out for 470, of which Chris Adams contributed an unbeaten 150, and Lancashire were forced to follow-on after making a paltry 214.
They made 297 in the second innings to at least ensure Sussex would have to bat again, but a victory target of 42 was negotiated with few alarms.
"If you're out of the ball game or pushing uphill at four o'clock on the first day, it's always going to be hard to pull it back.
"It was disappointing to lose the toss but that's not an excuse. Conditions never changed in this game and we didn't get the ball in the right areas enough times on a wicket that was quite conducive to fast bowling.
"When you're playing against a batsman such as Chris Adams, who's really strong on anything that's off-line, you're going to struggle."
Though refusing to blame his younger bowlers, namely Sajid Mahmood and Steven Crook, Hegg claimed the absence of Peter Martin, who is recovering from a knee operation, was one of the main reasons behind Lancashire's ill-disciplined display.
"Maybe it was a bit of inexperience on the part of some of the bowlers," Hegg said. "I think a major factor was missing Peter Martin.
"It's a massive blow for us to lose him. At first I didn't think it would be as big a blow because we've got back-up, in young lads such as Kyle Hogg, Saj and Steven Crook.
"But the only way they're going to learn is by playing against good players, and hopefully they will learn by their mistakes."