Paul Terry has told his Hampshire players to play for their pride against Surrey tonight following a dismal eight-wicket defeat against Middlesex.
Hampshire Hawks were thrashed with 5.1 overs to spare at Uxbridge last night and now have to face Surrey Lions at 5.30pm today with no chance of qualifying for the Twenty20 finals.
Terry confessed Hampshire "were letting down a lot of people" and said: "The guys have got to have a bit of pride in what they do and they have a chance to put things right against Surrey.
"Confidence can fluctuate very quickly in this game so we'll be aiming to put on a good performance."
Hampshire's defeat last night means that they are almost certain to finish bottom of their Twenty20 group despite winning the opening game against Sussex.
Terry added: "It was probably our worst performance of the season. I'm not very happy about it and I hope the players aren't either. It just wasn't very good.
"We went into it still thinking we had a chance in the competition, but it was a disappointing performance all round.
"We didn't bowl very well and didn't show enough commitment. We just didn't perform very well."
After losing the toss, Hampshire only made 134-7 - and Middlesex never looked like losing.
Terry added: "We needed a big score on such a small ground but we fell at least 40 runs short. Unless you get 170/180 on these grounds you're not going to be competitive.
"They knew they could afford to make a couple of mistakes and still recover after that but we didn't put them under enough pressure and it was the same against Kent at Beckenham last week.
"It was a good wicket, but one of their bowlers (Simon Cook) has got 3-14 and, with all due respect, he's not a frontline bowler."
Hampshire lost four wickets for 13 runs in the space of five overs on the way to their third successive Twenty20 defeat.
Terry added: "We've done that a few times this season now. It's just not great cricket. Uxbridge was packed out today but we're letting down a lot of people."
Captain John Crawley added: "We didn't play well at all and I don't know what the reason is.
"Before the game we were thinking that if we won these last two games well we would have a chance of qualifying, but something wasn't quite right.
"It was a poor performance and we have to take some criticism on the chin."
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