BEN Stokes made a welcome return to the Durham side last night; if only he was able to bowl then it may have brought a different outcome.

Permitted by the ECB to play solely as a batsman in the T20 quarter-final with Sussex at Emirates Riverside as he nurses a knee injury, he smashed 34 from 24 balls to get his side’s innings off to a flyer.

When he was out, Durham’s innings never got going again.

And when they bowled, the visitors rattled off the 141 target without much fuss.

From an electric start to the Jets’ innings, the game turned in Sussex’s favour as they controlled the scoring in both innings with the minimum of fuss.

And they go to finals day at Edgbaston on September 15, with Durham’s solid T20 campaign over.

Durham captain Tom Latham said: “We got off to a flyer.

“Pace on the ball can sometimes work in the batsmen’s favour. Everytime we threatened to build partnerships the spinners managed to take wickets. Trying to defend 140 you need everything to go your way.

“We managed to get a couple of early wickets, but those two [Evans and Rawlins] took the game away from us. Credit to the way Sussex played tonight.”

Stokes opened the batting with Graham Clark, as Durham took 12 off the first over. He flashed a four with an edge in the second over, then ran three off the next 90mph Tyrone Mills delivery.

Another nick to third man brought four more to open the next over, followed with a swat to the square boundary, he powered one off after a skip down the pitch, and fired another straight down the ground off Jofra Archer’s first over.

He was intent on making the most of the pace on the ball, taking 26 from ten balls.

After Clarke added four with a tickle down the leg side, he was out from a slower ball – caught in the deep by Delroy Rawlings.

In came skipper Latham, as Sussex turned to spin five overs in to try and slow the scoring down. Their ploy worked a treat.

Stokes struggled to get the tamer ball away in the last over of the powerplay, the Jets seeing it off at 62-1.

He was then pinned LBW – 34 from 24 balls – by the spin of Will Beer.

And the early verve of the Durham innings was halted. Latham was unhappy to be given out LBW to Briggs, umpire Martin Saggers, who spent three unflattering years at the Riverside in the mid-90s, confirming the bowler’s appeal.

At the halfway mark, Durham’s innings had slowed right down.

It got worse when Beer enticed Collingwood down the wicket and his middle stump was down after he added only four.

The mid-innings Beer was of a bitter nature for the home crowd.

After spilling a caught and bowled chance, two balls later Briggs pouched Will Smith with a more difficult one for 8.

Four wickets of the five were from the spinners and Durham’s boundaries dried up. Their last one was in the powerplay, some nine overs earlier.

One finally arrived from a quicker delivery, Ryan Davies neatly clipping one to the leg side boundary. When he skied one he was caught by Archer, bringing Mark Wood to the crease with four overs to go.

He clipped one fine behind for their second boundary since the fifth over. Wood played on to a much slower Mills ball leaving them seven down and well short of requirements.

From 43-0 off three overs to 115-7 off 17 overs.

Nathan Rimmington pushed a backward point four off Mills, then Stuart Poynter started to hit out and find the ropes.

However, he couldn’t put bat to ball from Mills’ final over deliveries, taking only a single before swatting the 15th boundary of the innings. Tellingly there were no sixes.

Sussex whipped a four off Chris Rushworth with the first ball of their innings, but two balls later Stokes chased ten yards and caught Phillip Salt.

Rushworth’s accuracy was keeping the visitors in check, but Lawrie Evans cracked a four and then took three off the next ball.

Captain Luke Wright, the former England T20 specialist, was caught at deep square leg by Davies from Wood’s bowling. It gave the Riverside crowd a slice of hope.

But Delray Rawlins stylishly found a straight boundary off Rushworth in the next over. His driving was powerful and when he found the gaps there was no stopping him.

Collingwood was introduced to try and bring some more control to the attack and only five were taken from his first six balls.

But Rawlins looked the biggest danger with his ability to effortlessly pick through the gaps.

He should have been out in the ninth over, as Ben Whitehead dropped him on the long-off boundary.

When Rimmington dived like a goalkeeper to try and halt a boundary and it crept to the ropes, the game was slipping away from the home side.

And with 60 needed off 60 balls, a routine T20 chase, Durham were in need of some inspiration.

Wood might have brought it to the Riverside. He returned with a quick, short ball and Rawlings fended it off uneasily, offering a sharp catch for the bowler.

The required run rate was gradually creeping below a run a ball and, while Durham took a couple of late wickets, they counted for little.