HAMPSHIRE head coach Adi Birrell admitted batting let his side down "again" as they slipped to a third defeat in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

Second-placed Worcestershire coasted to an eight-wicket victory over Hampshire at New Road, the visitors let down by an early batting collapse.

It was a second consecutive loss for Hampshire on the road after they were beaten at Durham, ahead of their final group match at Middlesex on Wednesday.

Birrell's charges now sit fourth in Group A on eight points, one point behind Durham in the top three and favourites to qualify for the knockouts. 

Speaking after the match, Birrell said: “It’s been a long trip to lose two matches quite convincingly. It hasn’t been a good trip.

“What went wrong? Batting again. We seem to have half an hour when we lose quite a few wickets and basically, the game is gone.

“We’ve done it two games in a row and those sort of collapses have hurt us. Fought like hell with the ball but we didn’t get enough runs to put pressure on them.

“I thought they came out and played pretty well. Ed Pollock went for it and Gareth Roderick dug in and they got into a position where they couldn’t lose.

“Disappointing because not long ago we were almost at the top of the table and two games later we are now going to struggle to qualify."

He continued: “It wasn’t a fantastic wicket but they seemed to bat quite well on it. Likewise at Durham, it was a tricky wicket.

"You’ve got to adapt to the circumstances. We’ve done that very well at home and won four out of four there on some tricky wickets.

"There is no excuse there. We should adapt and not give wickets away like we have done a little bit.”

Worcestershire spinner Fateh Singh said: “We came thinking Hampshire have been good in this competition and we just wanted to give them a really good test.

“Libbs (Jake Libby) said in the chat before the game ‘I want you boys to treat this as a knockout game’ and almost basically put your lives on it.

“The way we started, the opening bowlers started well, got a wicket apiece, Homey came on and did what he does, got two or three wickets.

“It allowed me to then come on and bowl at the middle order with their team in a sticky situation at 70-5. As a spinner, it is never easy bowling.

“Jack (Home) was bowling and myself and Libbs were at mid-on mid-off and we said ‘he just creates chances, doesn’t he?’ It’s a happy knack.

“It’s just good for me playing cricket, and even better if you do well and get a few wickets, it’s a nice feeling.”