Matt Prior's maiden one-day hundred propelled Sussex to a confidence-boosting totesport League win over Durham under the Hove floodlights last night.

Prior's 119 underpinned a total of 261-4 which always looked beyond the Dynamos, who would have gone to the top of the second division had they won.

The winning margin was a hefty 99 runs as Durham closed on 162-8 from their 45 overs.

It was hard going early on for the Sharks after Chris Adams had won the toss but crucially they kept wickets in hand and a punishing stand of 135 in 20 overs between Prior and skipper Adams effectively won the game.

Adams hit 81 off 69 balls, including a six over square leg off Shoaib Akhtar, whose night scarcely improved after he had bowled three no balls and went for 12 runs in his first over.

The world's quickest bowler finished with 1-65 off nine and then laboured for 21 balls over six runs when he was promoted up the batting order in a futile effort to kick-start Durham's reply.

The night, though, belonged to Prior who blossomed after a watchful start to play with impressive maturity.

He struck 14 fours, the pick of them probably the crunching cover drive when Shoaib returned to the attack to try and check Sussex's progress.

There were some meaty leg-side pulls to enjoy when the bowlers dropped short and an audacious but highly effective reverse sweep off Mark Davies which seemed no way to treat the leading wicket-taker in the Championship this season with 42 victims.

Prior had a wobble on 99 when he played and missed at successive deliveries from Graham Onions.

A nudge into the off side, however, took him to three figures and there was no disguising his delight as he cavorted in the middle, waving his bat in all directions before kissing the Sussex badge on his helmet.

He faced 135 balls before wearily holing out to long on in the 42nd over.

Prior is now Sussex's leading run-scorer in the competition this season with 366 but, more importantly, he is starting to look the part in his new role at the top of the order.

After going close earlier in the season against Middlesex and Yorkshire, he was delighed to finally have a one-day hundred under his belt.

He said: "It's a monkey off my back. I got a couple of 70s earlier on this season and then got out so to finally get a one-day hundred, especially in front of my home crowd, is a great feeling."

Adams had the best view in the house when Prior was mixing perfect placement with rustic power in the second half of his innings and was suitably impressed.

He said: "It was great watching Matt and then batting with him because we haven't had too many partnerships this season."

On the evidence here it is hard to work out why Sussex have again struggled in one-day cricket, but perhaps this performance is the turning point.

The return of Mushtaq Ahmed and Mohammad Akram helped and, with capable one-day batsmen all the way down to No. 9 Mark Davis and six front-line bowlers, the line-up looked much better balanced.

Shoaib, tearing up the Hove slope off his 30-yard run-up, and the economical Killeen are as potent a new ball attack as any in Division Two.

Sussex, though, only lost Ian Ward to the new ball when he carved Killeen to backward point in the eighth over.

Murray Goodwin was caught behind off a thin under-edge in the 22nd over but he provided the platform for Prior and Adams to play with increasing authority in the second half of the innings.

Shoaib struggled with his run-up and, although he regularly clocked more than 90mph, his radar was distinctly wonky and there was no one to match Killeen's accuracy as Adams and Prior began to free their arms.

The 63rd one-day 50 of Adams' career came off 54 balls, which is relatively sedate by his standards.

He then smashed 31 off the next 15 before losing his middle stump to Shoaib in the last over, having struck five fours and two sixes which gives him eight for the season. Only Leicestershire's Paul Nixon (9) has more.

It soon became evident who the most effective Pakistani paceman on view was playing for Sussex.

Akram gave Durham's dangerous Aussie Marc North the hurry-up in the fourth over of a hostile new ball spell but Durham's woes were only just beginning.

Robin Martin-Jenkins replaced Akram in the 11th over and soon had three wickets in four overs.

Skipper Jon Lewis edged a ball which was too close to cut while Gareth Breese, who captains Jamaica, and Shoaib were pinned by nip-backers as the all-rounder took 3-16 in seven impressive overs.

From 58-4 in the 17th there was no way back for Durham, despite Gary Pratt's unbeaten 57, as Mark Davis and Mushtaq shared four wickets to seal Sussex's best one-day performance of the season.

It could not have been better timed with the Twenty20 Cup starting tomorrow.

The visit of bottom-markers Scotland on Sunday gives them further opportunity to climb the totesport League table.