Durham denied again

Chris Nash's century guided Sussex to a draw against winless champions Durham

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Champions Durham are still looking for their first win in defence of the LV= County Championship after Sussex frustrated them on the final day of their Division One match at Hove.

Chasing 317 in 56 overs, Sussex had slumped to 109 for five when Liam Plunkett took two wickets in 15 balls immediately after tea.

But opener Chris Nash and wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd, who had defied Durham with a hundred in the first innings, got their heads down and the players shook hands with seven overs remaining with Sussex on 169 for five, the sixth wicket pair having batted for 90 minutes to keep Durham at bay.

Sussex had shown their intent to try and go for their target by scoring 72 out of their first 105 runs in boundaries but they kept losing wickets which stalled momentum.

Skipper Mike Yardy hit three boundaries before he carved Steve Harmison to gully in the third over and Ed Joyce lost his off-stump to Calum Thorp's inswinger in the sixth to leave Sussex on 16 for two.

Nash and Murray Goodwin took advantage of ultra-attacking fields to put on 55 in 13 overs before Goodwin was pinned in front by Mitchell Claydon.

And Sussex nerves were starting to fray when Rory Hamilton-Brown drove the first ball after tea to point and Luke Wright was taken low down at slip driving hard outside off-stump at Plunkett.

But Nash held things together with his first half-century of the season, finishing on 85 from 149 balls with 11 fours while Hodd (21 not out) helped him add 60 in 26 overs to secure the draw.

Earlier, Durham's Gordon Muchall scored his first championship hundred for more than three years before Durham declared on 299 for four, a lead of 316.

Muchall crawled along for the first hour when he added just a single to his overnight 51 as Michael Di Venuto played most of the aggressive shots on his way to a century against his former county.

The Australian left-hander, who began his English county career a decade ago at Sussex, added 28 to his overnight 75 to lodge his second championship hundred in four innings before he was caught behind off Robin Martin-Jenkins for 103, made off 211 balls with 12 fours.

Dale Benkenstein, who made 136 in the first innings, cut Wright's second ball of the day to backward point but Muchall and Ian Blackwell added 88 in 20 overs before the declaration 20 minutes after lunch.

Muchall's unbeaten 106 came off 190 balls with 11 fours and a straight six off Nash which took him to his first hundred since he made 102 against Lancashire at the Riverside in April 2006.