DURHAM wriggled out of a self-induced mess yesterday and for the fifth time in seven matches are likely to be set a victory target in excess of 300 today.

It would have been six had not the final day at Gloucester been ruined by rain, with the one variation on the monotonous theme coming in the three-day defeat at Southampton.

Having lost the toss on each occasion, Durham have always faced first-innings deficits of between 60 and 130, except when they led Hampshire by 20 on a suspect pitch.

Although there was some tight bowling from Nicky Hatch and Paul Collingwood, Sussex skipper Chris Adams was unusually restrained in yesterday's evening session.

Until Murray Goodwin was out the visitors looked in the mood to press on for an early declaration today, but in the remaining 29 overs Adams and Richard Montgomerie added only 59.

Two of Adams' four fours came in the final over and he finished on 33 not out with Sussex leading by 217 on 135 for one. The declaration could be influenced by whether Jason Lewry, their leading wicket-taker, is fit to bowl after suffering an elbow injury.

Durham collapsed from 222 for three to 245 for eight at lunch, still needing 48 to avoid the follow-on.

Andrew Pratt, Stephen Harmison and Hatch eventually took them to 360, a deficit of 82.

With the bat continuing to dominate on the excellent pitch, it was extraordinary that Durham should get into an unseemly tangle against the gentle medium pace of Adams, who would struggle to get a bowl for Eryholme.

In ten previous overs this season he had taken one for 27, yet in four overs yesterday he took four for six.

The only explanation was that it happened in that witching hour before lunch when wickets have often tumbled on the banks of the Wear, even going back to Durham's early days at the Racecourse ground.

It tends to happen if early sunshine gives way to cloud cover, as happened yesterday, although it was only Adams' third and fourth wickets which owed anything to swing.

Coming on for the day's 23rd over, he struck with his first ball to end a tortured innings by Nicky Peng, who had been greeted by three successive bouncers from James Kirtley. After Jon Lewis had been stuck on 99 for 14 balls before edging to slip, Peng took 24 balls to get off the mark, which meant there was a 50-minute period when the only runs were scored by Collingwood.

Perhaps Sussex had been on the phone to their former teammate Vasbert Drakes, who had tested Peng with a barrage of short balls during his last championship innings against Warwickshire.

Peng finally miscued an attempted pull off Mark Robinson through mid-on for two, but had not added to his score when he shaped for a similar shot off Adams and lobbed a simple catch back to the bowler.

Collingwood, who had moved serenely to 34, also went for a pull in Adams' next over and skied the ball over mid-wicket, where Kirtley ran back to hold a good catch.

In-swing then accounted for former Sussex pair Martin Speight and Danny Law, the former bowled when shouldering arms and the latter smartly stumped down the leg side by Matthew Prior.

When Lewry had Graeme Bridge lbw in the last over before lunch five wickets had gone down for 23 runs and Sussex must have scented a second successive innings win.

Sanity was restored by Pratt and Harmison in a stand of 62, Harmison scoring his first 24 runs in boundaries, the only fortuitous one being an edge over the wicketkeeper.

An inside edge for four by Pratt off Kirtley avoided the follow-on, but the rest of the wicketkeeper's eight boundaries were off the middle of the bat as he made his second half-century and finished on 51 not out.

Harmison was yorked by Kirtley for 27, then Hatch played with style and composure to secure a fourth batting point.

He made 24 before thrusting his pad at a quicker ball from left-arm spinner Umer Rashid and falling lbw.

Durham must have been getting to the stage in any case where they would consider a declaration to encourage Sussex to set them a target.

They had been slightly helped after lunch by the fact that Lewry retired just as the new ball was due, then Robinson, who replaced him, had to be removed for running down the pitch.

This meant Adams had to come back on and he finished with four for 28, beating his previous career-best of four for 29 for Derbyshire against Lancashire ten years ago.

Hatch had also been warned for running down the pitch in Sussex's first innings, but there seemed to be no problem yesterday and he bowled well without reward.

Goodwin edged him through the slips for four but quickly settled to score the 25 he needed to complete 1,000 championship runs.

With Harmison conceding 37 in five overs, the Zimbabwean had contributed 46 to a stand of 76 with Montgomerie when he drove Law straight to Michael Gough at short extra cover.

Although both Hatch and Collingwood beat the bat, there was no further success, the in-form Montgomerie reaching an unspectacular 50 off 116 balls just before the close.