Sussex tame Durham bowlers to clinch third

Sussex 328 (Wright 87, Brown 64) and 297 for 4 (Nash 108, Wells 88, Joyce 65*) beat Durham 164 (Anyon 5-44, Jordan 4-50) and 458 (Richardson 129, Jennings 127, Arshad 83) by six wickets
Scorecard

Chris Nash led the way with 108 as Sussex beat champions Durham by six wickets to secure third place and £87,000 prize money in the LV= County Championship.

Nash and opening partner Luke Wells laid the foundations for victory with a stand of 163 after Sussex had been set 295 to win in 75 overs. Wells was out for 88 which meant he fell six runs short of lodging 1,000 first-class runs for the season, but Nash pushed on to his third hundred of the summer to ensure Sussex finished in their highest position since they last won the title in 2007. He also completed 1,000 Championship runs in the process.

Nash gave one chance on 91 when he edged hard to second slip, but despite getting both hands on the ball Scott Borthwick was unable to hold on and in the next over Nash took successive boundaries off Ben Stokes to reach the 16th hundred of his career.

Left-hander Wells was equally impressive as Sussex made relatively light work of what looked a tricky run chase. He was reprieved on 33 when Will Smith, on his last day as a Durham player, shelled a tough chance at short leg during a probing spell by legspinner Borthwick.

Durham skipper Paul Collingwood eventually recalled the country's leading-wicket taker Graham Onions and he snared his 70th victim with a ball that held its line that Wells edged to slip, where Collingwood held a superb one-handed catch.

But Nash and skipper Ed Joyce shared a second-wicket stand of 80 in 17 overs during which Joyce moved into fourth among the leading run-scorers this season.

Borthwick eventually had Nash caught at long-off for 108, made off 147 balls with 17 fours, and with the game all but lost Collingwood threw the ball to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard - who claimed his maiden first-class wicket with his fifth ball when Luke Wright was leg before.

Matt Prior had fallen to the part-time spin of Smith but there were still 10 overs left when Brown hit the winning boundary. Joyce finished on 65 not out.

Earlier, Usman Arshad made his highest first-class score before Durham, who had been 120 for 6, were finally bowled out for 458. Arshad hit 83 off 88 balls with 12 fours and three sixes before he was brilliantly caught by Joyce at short mid-wicket when a drive struck him on the arm and he held onto the rebound.

Arshad had added 106 in 21 overs for the eighth wicket with Keaton Jennings before the opener was caught behind cutting at Nash. He had batted for more than seven hours and faced 308 balls, with 16 fours.