Sussex 335 and 172 for 5 (Haines 64) need 59 runs to beat Durham 376 and 189 (Robinson 58, Hudson-Prentice 4-27, Crocombe 4-47)

Pujara had averred on the second evening, after his 115 had kept Sussex within touching distance on first innings, that his side were confident of chasing down “anywhere close to 350”. As it was, Durham’s tumble through the trapdoor marked Tricky Third Innings saw the visiting side dismissed for 189 inside two sessions, allowing Sussex to work their way steadily towards a target of 230 as the seagulls swooped and contrails criss-crossed a milky blue sky.

Paul Farbrace, Sussex’s head coach, had spoken at the start of the season about the importance of breaking games down “session-by-session, hour-by-hour”, as a means of teaching an inexperienced side how to win four-day contests. Their greater resilience was evidenced by the way Sussex twice fought back into this match – bowling Durham out for 376 after they had been 213 for 1 (from 41 overs), and then making sure they posted 300 themselves from a position of 91 for 4.

Sussex added just three runs to their overnight total but lingering cloud cover gave the bowlers some encouragement and they applied themselves much better than on day one. Jones was the first to depart, feathering an edge on the angle from left-armer Sean Hunt. Crocombe then struck with his third and seventh balls: Lees, driving away from his body, nicked behind before Ben McKinney’s tame prod resulted in a third catch at the wicket for Oli Carter.

Durham were 42 for 3, but the position only got worse. Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who only came into the game on the third morning as a concussion substitute for George Garton, found a lovely curving line from the Cromwell Road End to induce a thick outside-edge as David Bedingham threw his hands, and Crocombe snaffled a third in the following over, Graham Clark fiddling through to Carter to make the score 63 for 5.

But it was McAndrew, a relative veteran at 29, who bashed out first principles for Sussex with an opening spell of 6-3-7-0, and he returned after lunch to claim the sixth wicket, Jonathan Bushnell trapped lbw to the delight of Farbrace, stood at deep square leg by the entrance to the Sussex Cricket Museum. “Don’t move, you’re lucky there,” was the sage advice offered by a steward.

Whether Farbrace moved or not, Durham mounted a recovery of sorts as Robinson and Carse hustled a partnership for the seventh wicket worth 71. Hudson-Prentice found the breakthrough, though Robinson was visibly aghast after opening the face to steer a low catch to Clark at gully. The last three wickets fell in short order to Hudson-Prentice and Crocombe, both bowlers recording their best innings figures for Sussex.