WORCESTERSHIRE Rapids boss Steve Rhodes admitted holders Lancashire Lightning "played like champions" after the visitors were bowled out for 53 in a NatWest T20 Blast thrashing.

Rapids lost by 96 runs at Emirates Old Trafford when their reply, the County's lowest total in T20 cricket, to 149-5 fell woefully short.

Brett D'Oliveira top-scored with 16 but Worcestershire still held on to third spot in the North Group with Birmingham Bears two points ahead at the top.

Director of cricket Rhodes said: "It was a disappointing performance. Take nothing away from Lancashire. They really did play like champions. They certainly out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded us.

"But it was disappointing to see our team, I suppose, keel over so easily. The top order will hold their hands up and understand they never really gave us a chance.

"That was partly due to some good attacking bowling, some good catching and fielding and also the spinners.

"We tried our best to hit the sixes but seemed to find the fielders on the boundary."

Rhodes admitted it may have been an error not to have batted first after winning the toss and said he had also considered changing the make-up of the side at the 11th hour.

He said: "I sat there watching it thinking, 'We've done this wrong.' We should have batted first but we make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, and that definitely was a mistake.

"Possibly we might have also changed the make-up of our team because we probably didn't read it as well as we could.

"We thought it was a brand new wicket. I think it's only had a few overs but that was quite a few days ago.

"When the covers came off, it was right at the last minute. It was the first time we had a look at the wicket and straight away we were a little bit cautious.

"It looked dry and with the potential to bowl cutters or spin, so we did think about changing our side at the last minute but we didn't and that was potentially a mistake.

"We are only human and we do make mistakes."

Rhodes still felt optimistic Rapids could reach their target.

He said: "We fancied 150. We needed a good start. The powerplay we felt was crucial. It was the time when the ball would come onto the bat so we planned for a good powerplay but we had a shocker.

"That's cricket. The tactics were to get a good start and sadly for us Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who has been in very good form in T20, was given out first ball, which was just the start we didn't need."

Rhodes is looking for Rapids to bounce back and gain momentum at the back-end of the tournament, which may stand them in good stead if they reach the quarter-finals.

He said: "Is the message consign this one to memory and on to the next game? Very much so.

"You should never totally forget some bad defeats because they can be a real inspiration to performing well in other games.

"But we move on and it's a long tournament and hopefully we can start picking up the form towards the end of the tournament and it might put us in a good spot for the quarter-finals.

"Last year was a really good example of a side possibly just dropping off form when we came to the quarter-final.

"No-one earns the right to get to a quarter-final without points and we know we've got to get there.

"This sort of defeat might be something from where we can start a little bit of a charge, get some momentum, get some confidence and then nail the quarter-final if we can get there."