LIAM PLUNKETT provided all-round confirmation that he is back on track yesterday before Durham were almost swamped by the turning of the tide at Hove.

Plunkett followed his unbeaten 94 with three top order wickets, only to see his efforts undermined by a stand of 150 between Luke Wright and Andrew Hodd.

As the pair were in full cry, Durham were delighted to see Wright depart shortly before Sussex closed on 269 for six, 111 behind, with Hodd unbeaten on 84. With the new ball due in six overs, it’s very similar to the situation in the home match against Yorkshire, whose last four wickets went down quickly on the third morning.

Hodd, deputising for England wicketkeeper Matt Prior, showed the same pedigree as when he scored 72 against Durham at Horsham two years ago.

As he and Wright scored their runs at four an over it was a huge relief for Durham when Wright fell for 67, very well caught at square leg by Gordon Muchall off a fullblooded sweep off Ian Blackwell.

With the help of Mitch Claydon, Plunkett had reduced Sussex from 81 without loss to 109 for five. But towards the end of his excellent first spell, he helped Wright get underway with two loose deliveries.

As the sixth-wicket stand began to flourish, the bowling deteriorated and Durham had to post a deep point, who was kept extremely busy.

They say batting conditions at Hove are affected by the tide, and it has certainly turned for both sides in midafternoon, although the softening of the ball after 40 overs may have much to do with it.

The continued absence of wickets for Steve Harmison and Callum Thorp, the pair who clinched the title by bowling out Kent last September, is a slight concern.

But the missing ingredient for both appears to be luck as they are beating the bat rather than finding the edge and Thorp also had two good lbw shots turned down.

Plunkett was initally a little wayward, but he settled down and made the much-needed breakthrough in his fourth over.

A perfectly-pitched ball did just enough to beat Chris Nash’s forward push and send the off stump reeling, then the next three batsmen all made ducks.

Ed Joyce followed his unbeaten century in the Friends Provident Trophy at Riverside on Monday by giving Phil Mustard a leg-side catch off Claydon. Then both Murray Goodwin and Rory Hamilton- Brown nibbled at Plunkett’s away swingers and were also caught by the wicketkeeper.

The former was the victim of an excellent ball, the latter hung out his bat in a manner he is unlikely to have been taught at Millfield School.

Wright arrived at 97 for four and the pressure was partially released as the next four balls yielded 12 runs. The last of those came from left-hander Michael Yardy’s leg glance for four off Claydon, taking the Sussex captain to 50.

But he added only one before he played back to a ball from Claydon which ran down his bat on to the stumps.

Wright then survived a couple of early inside edges off Claydon and a couple of impulsive slashes at Harmison to unveil a full repertoire of strokes, while Hodd never put a foot wrong.

On a grey and chilly morning, Plunkett was left stranded six short of his maiden century as his stand of 59 with Thorp was followed by the last three wickets going down for 11 runs.

For the second time this season Harmison was unable to help a team-mate to three figures.

The No 11 was out for three against Yorkshire at Riverside, leaving Mustard on 94, and this time he fell for a duck.

He pushed forward and edged off-spinner Ollie Rayner to Hodd, bringing double disappointment for Durham as they had looked likely to achieve maximum batting points by reaching 400.

It was tough on Plunkett, who continued to show the same responsible attitude as in reaching 65 overnight.

Needing a further ten for his best first-class score, he was helped by a couple of early inside edges then moved to 75 when an attempted cut flew off a thickish edge to the unmanned third man area.

But he was untroubled in patiently picking off the rest of his runs and would be disappointed to see Thorp go for a big hit off Rayner and miscue to deep mid-on.

Claydon made six before he got an inside edge into his stumps when attempting a forcing back-foot shot off Luke Wright.

The other Wright, Damian, had retired with a side injury, but as it’s his last game before Yasir Arafat arrives, Sussex won’t be unduly concerned.

Scoreboard

Sussex v Durham At Hove

Overnight: Durham 318-7 (D M Benkenstein 136, L E Plunkett 65 no).

Durham First Innings

L E Plunkett not out ...............................94

C D Thorp c Yardy b Rayner ..................29

M E Claydon b L J Wright ...................... 6

S J Harmison c Hodd b Rayner ............. 0

Extras (b5 lb10 w2 nb6 pens 0) ..23

Total (115.5 overs) .......................380

Fall: 1-10 2-37 3-41 4-101 5-104 6-162 7-310 8-369 9-377

Bowling: Collymore 18-4-74-1. D G Wright 26.5-10-64-3. Martin-Jenkins 18.1-5-65-2.

Rayner 18.5-1-51-2. L J Wright 26-3-82-2.

Hamilton-Brown 2-1-2-0. Nash 6-0-27-0.

Sussex First Innings Close

M H Yardy b Claydon .............................51

C D Nash b Plunkett ..............................40

E C Joyce c Mustard b Claydon ............ 0

M W Goodwin c Mustard b Plunkett ...... 0

RJ Hamilton-Brown c Mustard b Plunkett 0

L J Wright c Muchall b Blackwell ...........67

A J Hodd not out ....................................84

R S Martin-Jenkins not out .................... 3

Extras (lb11 w3 nb10 pens 0)......24 Total 6 wkts (74 overs).................269

Fall: 1-81 2-90 3-95 4-97 5-109 6-259 To Bat: O P Rayner, D G Wright, C D Collymore.

Bonus Pts: Sussex 3 Durham 4

Bowling: S J Harmison 14-2-40-0. Thorp 14- 5-48-0. Plunkett 16-1-66-3. Claydon 13-1-57- 2. Blackwell 13-3-30-1. Benkenstein 4-0-17- 0.