WHEN Kumar Sangakkara said he wanted to play two games for Durham in order to acclimatise he obviously didn’t expect the monsoonlike rain to which he is accustomed in Sri Lanka.

It took only 40 minutes of torrential rain at lunchtime on the second day at Hove to put paid to the rest of the day’s play and yesterday’s downpour arrived in late afternoon after three shower interruptions.

Sangakkara took his mission very seriously, however, in surviving two dropped slip catches to battle to an unbeaten 30 in 31 overs as Durham reached 137 for two in reply to Sussex’s 505 for nine declared, with Scott Borthwick on 84 not out.

With fine weather forecast for today, Durham should have little trouble in holding out for their fourth successive draw and Sangakkara will hope to sign off with a big innings.

Other than the interruptions, he got just what he wanted in being given a thorough examination in seaming English conditions.

“You have to work out what works for you in the conditions,” he said.

“Durham were kind enough to take me on and I’m very grateful for that, so I just want to do what I can for them before thinking about playing against England.”

Borthwick, known by his team-mates as Badger, said of Sangakkara: “He’s a real cricket badger so that’s perfect for me. He talks cricket all the time. He’s taken a few of us out for dinner and been a massive help.

“It’s a real honour for me to share a century partnership with him and if we can get through the first 40 minutes tomorrow we hope to cash in.

“Steve Magoffin is a very skilful bowler and it was hard work most of the time today, but when it’s fine and the ball gets older this becomes a fast-scoring ground.”

After his double failure in the first of his two matches, Sangakkara almost missed the boat again as he went perilously close to being run out early on.

Magoffin often found the edge of both left-hander’s bats but they battled through diligently under leaden skies.

Borthwick overcame a spell of jittery running between the wickets to play extremely well, which was reassuring as his early form had hinted there might be a reaction to his rapid growth into a successful No 3.

He also had to concentrate on survival in the afternoon after speeding from 33 to a 79-ball half-century just before lunch with a series of fine shots.

He was a little fortunate with an inside edge for four off Jimmy Anyon but followed it with a pulled six and two overs later he drove successive balls through extra cover and backward point to take his tally of fours to seven.

Mark Stoneman fell to the day’s seventh ball, pushing forward and edging Anyon to the wicketkeeper for one.

Keaton Jennings did well to survive some testing bowling from Magoffin, Anyon and Jon Lewis and wasn’t impressed when his hard work was undone by Borthwick suddenly getting carried away in his whippet-like running.

Having forced a back-foot shot wide of cover, Borthwick set off for a second run which wasn’t on then changed his mind with Jennings stranded in mid-pitch.

Amazingly, Durham took on the same fielder, Luke Wright, twice more in the next few overs. First Sangakkara had to scramble home on his own call after a push into the covers, then might well have been out had Wright’s shy hit the stumps following a Borthwick call.

The Sri Lankan had a calming word with his young partner before the two “badgers” burrowed down to lay the foundations for what could be a flourishing partnership today.


Sussex v Durham At Hove.
Overnight: Sussex 505-9 dec (L J Wright 189, B C Brown 163; C Rushworth4-124).
Durham First Innings Close
M D Stoneman c B C Brown b Anyon. 1
K K Jennings run out ............................. 13
S G Borthwick not out ..........................84
K C Sangakkara not out........................30
Extras (lb5 nb4 pens 0)........ 9
Total 2 wkts (45.2 overs)..137
Fall: 1-3 2-34
To Bat: M J Richardson, P D Collingwood, P Mustard, M A Wood, Usman Arshad, G Onions, C Rushworth.
Bowling: Magoffin 14.2-4-31-0. Anyon 10-2-43-1. Lewis 11-2-32-0. L J Wright 4-0-14-0. Nash 6-1-12-0.