IT would be good to think that Durham could end the season with a flurry of runs today or tomorrow and make it five wins from their last six games.

By collecting only one batting point yesterday, however, they ensured that they cannot finish higher than sixth in the table, their lowest since 2006.

Even allowing for the fact that their game at the Oval never started, a total of 18 batting points from 15 matches compares very unfavourably with the 47 gathered last year.

The weather is largely to blame and before evening sunshine briefly cast its shadows over the season's embers an hour was lost to rain in early afternoon yesterday.

It robbed the game of its momentum after Phil Mustard and Scott Borthwick extended their stand to 83 in the morning before hopes of further bonus points for the fans to cheer were ended by the fall of three wickets for one run.

That included Callum Thorp being bowled by a ball which brushed his pads then came back off wicketkeeper Ben Brown to hit the stumps again.

The umpires suggested if he had not been bowled be would have been out lbw and they could even have given him out stumped.

Durham were all out for 227, a lead of 16, and Sussex reached 112 for five thanks to an unbeaten 51 from left-handed opener Luke Wells.

After coming in at 67 for five in the first innings, when he made an unbeaten 76, Brown arrived at 69 for five second time around and again looked comfortable.

He withstood a fiery spell from Ben Stokes, who became the fourth Durham seamer to pass 30 wickets and would be going to India with England this winter had he scored more runs.

Durham seemed to have done the difficult bit in the morning when Mustard and Borthwick saw off Steve Magoffin and Monty Panesar. But after surviving until 20 minutes before lunch they got out within four balls of each other.

Mustard took a few risks and survived a few scary moments in getting to 40 fairly quickly. But he then became unusually restrained and added only five in 12 overs before falling lbw to Chris Nash for 45.

As Sussex's acting captain bowls only occasional off spin, Mustard might have been tempted to go for it, but he was playing defensively forward when he was out. He hasn't made a championship half-century since scoring 80 in the first match against Nottinghamshire.

In the next over, the first of the day for seamer Kirk Wernars, Borthwick departed for 35 when he chipped the second ball to short mid-wicket, where Mike Yardy stuck out his left hand to hold the catch.

Lunch was delayed with nine wickets down but both Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth were dropped and proceeded to cash in with a flurry of runs. They had put on 24 when rain arrived.

Durham failed to add to their total on the resumption as Onions went down the pitch to Panesar and was bowled.

Having fallen to Rushworth's first ball in the first innings, Nash was lbw to the third this time.

Needing 16 for his 1,000 runs - almost 300 more than any Durham player - he was out for a duck.

Onions again struggled from the Finchale End and looked more threatening when he switched late in the day.

But he couldn't shift the obdurate Wells, who reached 50 off 96 balls by slicing his eighth four through gully, where he scores a lot of his runs.

As when making his maiden century at Riverside early last season, he was not pretty to watch.

But he watches the ball carefully and either plays it late or leaves it, which is a useful basis for survival on tricky pitches.