END OF SEASON flourishes have become an unfortunate habit of Jimmy Daley's. A casual glance at the record books would suggest that when contract time comes around he's good at saving his skin.

His first 50 of the season in his 12th championship innings yesterday prevented Durham from being roasted in the Hove hothouse as they closed on 254 for nine against promotion-chasing Sussex.

Daley was unbeaten on 89, which had spanned five and three quarter hours of diligent and invaluable graft.

It would be too cynical to suggest he had done it more for himself than the side as he is a devoted Durham man and there's much more to his career story than the figures suggest. It's a tale of misfortune with hand injuries and being badly mishandled by Durham.

After his failures as an opener, his runs yesterday came at No 4, which is where he ought to have been a fixture in the order for the last five years.

It was at No 4 that he made 157 at Derby in mid-August 1998 after a previous top score that season of 42 not out.

The following August came his biggest success as a four-day opener when he made 105 at Colchester, and last year his only championship half-century came in the penultimate match against Hampshire, followed by innings of 105 and 54 in the National League.

Along with Simon Brown, Daley is the only survivor from Durham's original first-class staff. Yet he is still not a fixture in the side and current discussions will centre around whether he is ever going to become one.

If not he will be released and with Essex rumoured to be interested he did himself no harm yesterday in terms of keeping himself in the shop window.

Coming in at 23 for two in the 14th over, he gritted it out to make 11 in 20 overs by lunch, then added 33 in 38 overs in the afternoon and 45 in the evening.

Of his 11 fours most of the early ones were clips off his toes, but late in the day he was running the ball to third man with exquisite timing.

Batting was never easy because Sussex had left enough grass on the pitch to encourage their four seamers and the ball also swung in the sticky heat.

After his run of nine lost tosses, Jon Lewis won it for the third successive time and must again have questioned the wisdom of batting first as he and Gary Pratt managed one run each in the first seven overs.

Pratt, on his first championship appearance of the season, then pulled a rare short ball from James Kirtley for four in front of mid-wicket. But there was no respite as title-chasing Sussex stepped up their frenzied appeals, backed by oohs and aahs when balls left alone passed within two feet of the stumps.

Pratt survived two big lbw appeals from Kirtley in the 12th over before being given out to the third when he thrust his pad well forward on the line of leg stump. Although he made only eight, he had acquitted himself well for almost an hour in difficult conditions.

Two overs later Kirtley moved one away to find Lewis's edge, leaving Daley and Love to grind it out until lunch. Love had made only five in 12 overs when he cut Robin Martin-Jenkins for only the day's third boundary in the 24th over.

He had moved on to 28 at lunch and seemed to have set out his stall for a big innings. But he got out when he stepped up the pace and went for a third four in one over off left-armer Jason Lewry.

A skied pull gave square leg a simple catch and it was the fifth time in seven innings that he had fallen for between 45 and 58.

Nicky Peng went second ball, playing back to Mark Robinson and edging to first slip. He has survived seven balls in two innings since suffering mild concussion last Friday. Danny Law's hopes of repeating last week's century against his first county were shortlived as he shouldered arms and lost his off stump to Kirtley for two. At 112 for five things were not looking good, but as the ball was now 50 overs old batting started to get a little easier.

Andrew Pratt contributed 26 to a stand of 57 before he left alone a straight one from off spinner Mark Davis and was lbw.

Then Graeme Bridge again shaped well in making 22 before Sussex skipper Chris Adams held a brilliant return catch. Adams wiped out Durham's middle order with four cheap wickets with his little-used medium pace at the Riverside last month, and he struck again yesterday when James Brinkley feebly wafted a leg-side catch to the wicketkeeper.

But Stephen Harmison and Nicky Hatch both played comfortably enough as a further 43 runs were added, and Durham will have to match the accuracy of the Sussex seamers today if they are to trouble the title chasers.