CLOSE OF PLAY: Durham 164-2 (57) Lead of 181 going into the final day for the champions. Di Venuto is 75 and Muchall 51, his half-century coming off 75 balls with six fours. Collymore came back for a four over burst at the end and Muchall twice edged him through the vacant second slip position. At the other end Rayner and then Chris Nash have been bowling but Durham have been playing for the close in the last 20 minutes or so with no run in the last three overs. We could have a decent last day depending on the time of Durham's declaration and I will be back tomorrow to bring you details of the action as it, er, unfolds. See you then.

Durham 113-2 (38) Double bowling change as Rayner returns for RHB and Wright has a burst after a decent spell from RMJ who nearly had a wicket when Muchall, on 6, edged just short of Rayner at slip. Di Venuto has gone to 50 from 107 balls with 6 fours and is now 59 and Muchall onto 17. Still 18 overs to go after this one.

Durham 86-2 (31) Rayner has a blow and Rory Hamilton-Brown comes on at the Cromwell Road end to bowl his off spin. Di Venuto looks untroubled and is in sight of a half-century on 46. He's never scored a hundred against Sussex for either Durham or Derbyshire. Muchall is 3.

WICKET: Durham 66-2 (26.4) Bonus wicket for Sussex as Smith is run out for 7. He dabbed a ball from RMJ to Collymore at fine leg, took a single and then set off for a second without realising that Di Venuto had stayed put. With both batsmen at the same end Hodd gathered the throw and hurled it down to the other end with Smith standing next to his partner 22 yards away. Di Venuto is 33 and Gordon Muchall the new batsman.

Durham 55-1 (21) RMJ opened from the sea end after tea and it's Rayner continuing down the slope. Strong wind today blowing across the ground so it's not really helping him. DiVenuto 24, Smith 5. The replacement umpire is Roger Croft, a Surrey League umpire and regular watcher here at Hove. Cowley has gone to the docs for a check-up. We don't think it's swine flu.

TEA: Durham 53-1 (20) Di Venuto 22, Smith 4 Durham lead by 80 at the interval. 37 overs left tonight. Still no word on who the replacement vampire is. I'll keep you posted.

WICKET: Durham 39-1 (16) Accurate bowling at both ends and the pressure has been rewarded as Stoneman, on 24, pushes into the off side and gets a thin edge to Hodd. Di Venuto is 12 and it's Luke Wright into his fifth over at the sea end. Looks like we have a change of umpire too. Nigel Cowley, who has been suffering from flu all week, has gone off. Csn't identify his replacement yet, but I can exclusively reveal he is wearing light grey trousers.

Durham 29-0 (9) Time for tweak as Rayner replaces RMJ at the Cromwell Road end. Stoneman 20, Diva 8.

Durham 29-0 (7) How's yer luck Tucker? Di venuto jammed his bat down onto the ball and it rolled back onto the base of the stumps - and the bails stayed put. Stoneman onto 20 and Diva 8.

Durham 12-0 (30 As expected, no sign of Damien Wright with Tom Smith doing 12th man duties. Collymore and RMJ have taken the new conker, Stoneman 5 and DiVenuto 6.

SUSSEX 363 all out The last wicket pair added 31 but Collymore has just been given out lbw to Claydon's yorker for 4 leaving Wright 41* The deficit is 17 runs.

Sussex 348-9 (95) Back after lunch and Collymore has just been skulled by a Harmison bouncer but is okay now after composing himself for a minute or two. He's on 2 and Wright is 30 and will be looking to take Sussex to their fourth batting point in this next over.

LUNCH: Sussex 342-9 (91) Collymore survived the last five balls of the final over before lunch from Harmison to remain 1* Great shot in the penultimate over as Wright swung Plunkett high and wide of long on for a sixer. He is 25 and the deficit at lunch is 42. 73 runs and three wickets in an entertaining mini-session. Back in 40 minutes.

WICKET: Sussex 332-9 (88.5) Rayner out for 25 and a first wicket for Harmison as Rayner gloves a lifter to Mustard, who takes the catch in front of his face. Wright is 16 and last man Corey Collymore has just survived an lbw appeal from Harmison first ball. Up to Damo now to lash a few and get Sussex to 350.

Sussex 330-8 (86.4) Mixed news here for Sussex. Wright is not holding back and has already biffed three boundaries in his 14, but every forcing shot leaves him wincing in pain. I'd be amazed if he bowls in Durham's second innings because of that side strain. Yasir Arafat is due to arrive today to replace him as overseas player which from Sussex's point of view is excellent timing. Rayner onto 25 with a lovely clip off his legs backward of square for four.

WICKET: Sussex 312-8 (84) All over for Hodd. Plunkett has got that one to nip back and he's trapped in his crease leg before for 101. Fourth wicket for Plunkett. Game on now. Lots of time left in this game for Durham to force a result. Great innings by Hodd though, warmly applauded by the crowd here. Damien Wright in with Rayner and off the mark with a drive into the covers for two.

Sussex 309-7 (84) Hundred for Hodd, off the last ball of Harmison's over as he nudges one round the corner for a single. He's faced 158 balls and hit 12 of them to the pickets. Rayner is 20 at the other end.

Sussex 302-7 (81) New ball taken straight away as Steve Harmison returns to the attack up the slope. Had an idea Rayner was one of his hat-trick victims here last year but he wasn't: RHB, RMJ and Mushtaq were. Rayner has just thick edged him over third slip for four to bring up Sussex's 300 and their third batting point. Good test this for Rayner, who can bat. Hodd is 98. Sussex 295-7 (80) Couple of boundaries from Rayner off Claydon in his last over, a lovely cover drive and then a pull which he didn't entirely control but which took one bounce on its way over the rope at mid-wicket. He is 12 and Hodd is 97.

WICKET: Sussex 282-7 (77.1) RMJ goes without addition to his overnight 3. Poor shot really, wafting outside off stump without much foot movement at Claydon to give Mustard a low catch moving to his right. Hodd is 96 and has been joined by Ollie Rayner.

Sussex 282-6 (76) Two boundaries all ready for Hodd, a steer through gully and a lovely straight drive just now off Plunkett. He is 96 and RMJ is 3. Claydon bowling up the slope with the new ball now four overs away.

Play to start at 12.20pm The rain has stopped, the sun is peaking through the clouds and we will be underway in 20 minutes. 13 overs lost today but we can play until 6.30pm with the day's allocation now 83 overs.

Lunch will be at 1.30pm and tea 4.10pm. GOOD morning and welcome to Hove for our third day coverage of the LV County Championship tussle between Sussex and Durham.

Unfortunately it has been raining here since 9am and at the moment there is no sign of it stopping with the square and run-ups under cover.

The forecast is for an improvement in an hour or so and it won't take long once it does stop to get underway. There aren't too many better draining grounds in the country than Hove.

More updates when the rain stops.