A downbeat mood has engulfed the Steelbacks after Lancashire loss

The Steelbacks were crushed by 53 runs at Old Trafford as the Jos Buttler-inspired hosts dominated a one-sided contest.

And the all-rounder said: “It’s (the mood) how you’d expect, it’s pretty down and no-one enjoys losing especially in professional sport as that’s what you live for, winning and the feelings we had in the dressing room last year.

“This year we’ve not got on a roll, it’s very much a momentum game, Twenty20, and we’re on the bad side of it at the moment.”

As for the game, Spriegel reckons the home side were allowed to get too many on a pitch that aided the slow bowlers as the night wore on.

“It was a good wicket, it was starting to spin a little bit but it was a good wicket,” he added.

“I’m not sure it was 190 wicket, they had a couple of big overs towards the end where (Jos) Buttler and (Steven) Croft put on a good partnership after we got a couple of quick wickets.

“If we’d been able to restrict them to 165 then we were very much in the game but when you lose the big two, Dave (Willey) and Rich (Levi), up top it’s always going to be tricky for the guys coming in.”

A lack of form in the middle order has been the Steelbacks’ Achilles heel so far and Spriegel believes the loss of Cameron White and Alex Wakely is being highlighted.

He said: “We’re missing Al (Wakely) and Cam (White) from last year who had such a devastating impact for us in those positions at three and four.

“Jumble (David Sales) and Keysy (Rob Keogh) are very good players but they haven’t played much recently and everybody’s learning to deal with their absence in the middle but when you’re 5-2 after two overs and the run rate is over 12 for the last 15 it’s always going to be tricky to chase it down.”