WOEFUL Worcestershire contrived to lose seven wickets for 22 runs in the space of 43 balls to be all out for 100 before bad light saved them from further embarassment on day two of their LV County Championship Division One match with Sussex.

Replying to Sussex's 512-8 declared - during which the visitors made batting look remarkably easy - the Coun-ty slumped to 28-3 in the 11 overs before tea at New Road.

However, worse was to follow. After the interval, Ste-phen Moore and Graeme Hick steadied the ship with a 50 partnership, but the veteran's dismissal sparked the amazing collapse.

Captain Vikram Solanki admits the players are downcast, but insists there is still plenty of fight left in the side.

He said: "We're not playing as well as we should be and we have not played well enough in any of the departments.

"Now we will be trying to work on our individual games, try to contribute a little bit more and, as a team, play some better cricket.

"The dressing room is disappointed - it is not nice to have lost the number of games we have - and there are a lot of people who are hurt by what's going on.

"There's no hiding from the fact that we are pretty low on confidence, but if we bat well, show some fight and discipline, we will take something from the game."

Wily leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed was the architect of Worcestershire's demise, bam-boozling five batsmen back to the pavilion at the cost of just 22 runs in eight overs.

No less than five home batsmen failed to score, while only Hick (15) and Solanki (13) joined top-scorer Moore, who equalled his best score of the season, 47, in double figures.

Phil Jaques was first to go, edging a defensive push to wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd for five. Solanki gave his wicket away, clipping a Rana Naved leg-stump half-volley straight to Chris Nash at square-leg.

Ben Smith hung his bat out to dry and found Richard Montgomerie at first slip off Jason Lewry and, after the mini-revival with Moore, Hick was unfortunate to depart for 15. He played a fizzing Mush-taq delivery onto his boot and Carl Hopkinson dived forward to pick up the rebound.

From there on in, it was a depressing prosession of inept batting. Steven Davies, Gar-eth Batty, Doug Bollinger and Nadeem Malik were all cleaned up for ducks, while Kabir Ali added brief resistance with nine before becoming Mushtaq's fifth victim.

Sussex began the day on 360-4 and despite losing skipper Chris Adams for 91 - an addition of just one to his overnight score - to the fifth ball of the day, Hodd and Luke Wright both added rapid half-centuries as the visitors raced to 512-8 before declaring 11 overs before tea.