It is a painful and hurtful result. We had a talk in the dressing room and we have to take it on the chin. Hopefully it is a defeat in isolation

ADRIAN BIRRELL called on Hampshire to make a quick recovery from their ‘painful and hurtful result’ at Essex in County Championship division one.

The Ageas Bowl outfit tumbled to defeat by an innings and eight runs inside five sessions at Chelmsford.

Having being dismissed for 118 in their first innings, they were skittled for 88 at the second attempt after bowling Essex out for 214.

Birrell was not impressed as his second-placed side had their title hopes dented.

The head coach said: ‘We had four overs to bat before lunch and lost a wicket straight away.

‘Ajinkya (Rahane) then got a first-baller, so we were on the back foot right from the start.

‘(Simon) Harmer bowls fairly well but the ball wasn’t turning square, it wasn’t impossible to bat.

‘Joe Weatherley batted through. He applied himself and needed someone to bat with him.

‘It is a painful and hurtful result. We had a talk in the dressing room and we have to take it on the chin.

‘Hopefully it is a defeat in isolation. We can’t afford to let this affect us but it was a very bad two days.’

The result comes as a setback for Hampshire in an otherwise positive summer to date.

Birrell added: ‘We had three wins and a couple of draws and it had been okay up until now.

‘We need to get back on to the horse. We are not proud of what happened but we can’t fall in a heap.

‘We need to get off the floor and dust ourselves down.’

Essex resumed their first innings on 147 for three yesterday morning.

They had reached 195 for four when six wickets for 19 runs offered Hampshire a way back into the game.

Kyle Abbott was the chief destroyer with four for 54.

But any hopes of a fightback were quickly dashed when they crumbled to 32 for seven in reply.

Of Hampshire’s top eight, only Joe Weatherley, inset, who carried his bat for 29, made double figures.

James Vince will make his World Cup debut for England against Afghanistan at Old Trafford today (10.30am).

Skipper Eoin Morgan confirmed the Hampshire captain will also play against Sri Lanka on Friday with Jason Roy ruled out by a hamstring injury.