Sussex captain Chris Adams refused to condemn his players even though they were shot out for their lowest score of the season by Durham.

The county were dismissed for 117 yesterday and by the close of the second day Durham had reached 179-5 in their second innings, a lead of 316.

Adams, Bas Zuiderent and Michael Yardy were all dismissed for ducks as Sussex slumped to 70-8 before Matt Prior (38) and Jason Lewry (23) at least enabled them to avoid the follow on.

Adams said: "In a long six-month season you are going to have days like yesterday's.

"Fortunately we haven't had too many of them this season and I hope people will remember that because of the effort the guys have put in we are top of the second division."

Steve Harmison took 4-48 and James Brinkley 3-27 as Durham's bowlers exploited perfect conditions for swing bowling.

Adams said: "We did the same thing to Hampshire twice a few weeks back, but all credit to Durham, they bowled as well as any side has done here during my four years as captain including ourselves.

"Every now and then the combination of the new ball and overhead conditions makes things happen here.

"I'm not denying there were some poor shots which is disappointing but I think that one or two of the guys are starting to look a bit tired, which is hardly surprising considering the crazy schedule we've had and the effects of a long season can have at this time of the year."