SOMERSET captain Tom Abell admitted his side "were completely outplayed" in their 151-run defeat at Essex this week.

The visitors were skittled for just 117 in a pursuit of 269 which never looked likely as seamers Jamie Porter (4-22) and Aaron Beard (3-22) proved too hot to handle.

Abell, who fell without scoring to the second ball of Somerset's second innings, said: “We were completely outplayed this week and didn’t deserve anything from the game.

“We’ve got a few shortcomings with the bat at the moment which we need to address before the next game.

“It is no means the end of the world and we are still in a great position and have been playing great cricket in the Championship.

“We weren’t good enough this week and have lost comprehensively because of that but we will be back next week for Hampshire."

Abell went on to discuss the pitch, which saw 647 runs scored on it across the four innings.

“It was tricky to bat out there but if you really applied yourself and got in I think you could score runs," Abell said.

“There were always good balls out there but Alastair Cook scoring 130 runs and in the context of the match that was massive.

"Some of us got in in the first innings but couldn’t take it on when we needed to and we lost wickets in clusters again – which are hurting us at the moment.

“Our form has been really good throughout the competition and there will always be periods when you don’t play at your best.

"There have been times when we haven’t been at our best that we have shown that fight and character to wrestle back the momentum in games which we didn’t do this week.

"Next week is massive for us, we need to get back to winning ways.

"We need to be on the ball and I am confident we will be."