Match-winner Darren Stevens said it was important for Kent to bounce back after their “unprofessional” showing in the defeat to Middlesex.

Friday’s 87-run mauling at Radlett – their second white-ball capitulation against Middlesex this season – was the new low point of a week that also saw a home wash-out against Essex and a dramatic defeat at Glamorgan.

Although thrilled with Sunday’s win over Sussex, Stevens was at a loss to explain the highs and lows of what he called a “roller-coaster” week for the players.

He said: “It’s just a part and parcel of cricket, it’s the way it is. Seeing everybody in the changing room after the Middlesex game, their faces, we knew we let ourselves down, the batters especially.

“We lost wickets at the wrong time, played the wrong shots and those sorts of things… (it was) lazy and unprofessional.”

He added: “It’s always good to win. We’ve got stitched a little bit with the rain against Glamorgan and we played poorly against Middlesex, so to bounce back and beat Sussex, who are a good one-day side, again, is pleasing.”

The 39-year-old claimed 4-29, with four consecutive scalps in the middle of the innings, to leave the visitors struggling: “It came out nicely. The pitch was a little bit damp, so it was a good toss to win – they were going to bowl as well. There was enough in the pitch to make it nibble around and hit the seam.

“To take 4-29 is pleasing. There’s no secret to it, it’s just simple cricket, there is a pitch that has a little bit in it and if you bowl straight you’re going to give yourself a chance, with lengths and bowling in the right areas and executing your plans.”

After a week that included five Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures in eight days, Stevens said: “It’s been a long week, no rest, no time off. Your time off is getting massages in for the next day or seeing the physio. Your mind is on the next day, on the next game.

“We walked out today, I was chatting to Joe Denly and said ‘Only the 50 overs to go’. He said in a couple of days’ time we’d have just the 96 overs to go on the first day of a four-day game.

“It’s a bit of a roller-coaster at the moment, there’s no rest for the wicked but we have a bit of time after (the ODC visit of Lancashire on Saturday, 10.30am), a week until the quarter-final game, a chance to recharge your batteries.”