TWO divisions was designed to keep interest alive in county matches until the end of the season, but with six games to go things already look cut and dried.

The three teams who went up last year are coming down again, while Sussex and Hampshire will be promoted, leaving Warwickshire to challenge Middlesex for the third spot.

Sussex skipper Chris Adams knew he had Durham over a barrel on Saturday and his cunning use of this knowledge enabled him to play safe and still win by 133 runs.

His first priority was to put the game beyond Durham, but not so far beyond them that they would settle for the draw they couldn't afford.

Sussex even batted on for four overs after lunch before setting Durham a target of 336 in 61 overs. They had 48 on the board after seven overs and were still going well at 94 for two in the 18th over when Mark Robinson gained lbw verdicts with successive balls.

That was the end of Durham's remote victory chances, but the modern mentality is that it is better to keep playing shots than simply try to block it out and they had reached 145 for four when Adams turned to the left-arm spin of Umer Rashid with 26 overs left.

Paul Collingwood went down the pitch to his third ball and was bowled for 34, and Rashid finished with four for nine in 9.1 overs.

There were 5.5 overs left when he had Andrew Pratt caught at silly point to leave Durham on 202 for nine with Stephen Harmison unable to bat because of a viral infection.

It was Sussex's fifth win in six games and took them to the top of division two, 54 points ahead of Durham, who are 40 adrift of third-placed Middlesex, their next opponents.

Although Simon Brown should be ready to return at Lord's, Harmison is unlikely to be fit. He developed breathing difficulties on Friday evening and after hospital tests he was put on a course of tablets and advised to rest.

Sussex declared at the fall of their ninth wicket with the score on 253, Graeme Bridge taking four for 57 and Michael Gough three for nine.

Skipper Jon Lewis signalled his attacking intentions from the start of Durham's chase, and the loss of Gough, lbw in the third over, brought in Martin Love to match his captain stroke for stroke.

There was a brief lull after Lewis was bowled by James Kirtley for 32, playing back to a good-length ball, but Love and Collingwood took the score to 94 in the 18th over before Mark Robinson gained lbw verdicts with successive balls.

Love, who hit seven fours in making 41 off 46 balls, went only half forward then Nicky Peng departed in similar fashion.

Collingwood and Martin Speight had few problems in putting on 51 for the fifth wicket and a stalemate looked likely until Adams turned to Rashid.

Collingwood's rush of blood was followed seven overs later by Speight being yorked by Kirtley for 31, then Rashid struck twice in three balls.

Danny Law tried to pad off a ball which pitched just outside leg stump, only for it to brush his leg on the way to hitting off stump. Then Bridge went to cut a long hop and edged it to wicketkeeper Matthew Prior.

Nicky Hatch survived for ten overs in partnership with Pratt, who looked as crestfallen to be out as Sussex were ecstatic.

"We had a mad 20 minutes in both innings, losing wickets to part-time bowlers," said Durham coach Martyn Moxon.

"It's very frustrating to keep losing the toss, and it's disappointing that we keep falling short in the first innings.