Head coach disappointed with heavy defeat at Essex

Middlesex head coach Richard Scott said his team have to find a way to win, following their seven-wicket loss at Essex in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

They slumped from 54-1 to 117-9, as Jamie Porter and Paul Walter took four wickets apiece for the hosts, before a dogged last-wicket stand saved some face.

Dawid Malan’s 23 was the top Middlesex score in a below-par effort with the bat and Essex eased to their target with 20 overs to spare and Johnson said: “We’re better than how we batted here and how we batted at Kent. We’ve got to find a way.

“The players are good enough. If you look at the international players we’ve got in our team, three ex-Test players, two current Lions, when you look at the quality of those players you’d expect them to adapt to facing Essex and Kent.

“It’s bitterly disappointing that we haven’t been able to post a competitive total. The scoreboard tells how comprehensive it was. We weren’t good enough and the lads know that. We’ll put our hands up and say that. You’re not going to win 50-over games at Chelmsford when you post 150.

“Most of our batters will look at their dismissals and be disappointed with them. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance to get in and get that killer partnership and post a competitive score. The last pair showed it wasn’t impossible to bat on. Too few times in this competition have we had a batsman who’s in for the last few overs and that, sadly, is why we’re going out of the competition.

“We’ll let the dust settle here. We won’t make any rash decisions, emotional ones. We’ll sleep on it and come back strong next week.”

One of the few positives for Middlesex was the performance of spinner Ravi Patel, who took 2-39.

Scott added: “Rav has bowled really well throughout the competition and he looks back to his best and he’s causing problems. Hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the season.”

Middlesex return to Lord’s on Wednesday to host Somerset.