DURHAM were frustrated by a century from Luke Wells as Sussex reached 223 for four at lunch on the final day at Arundel.

On a glorious morning, Durham's greatest cause for hope in the early overs came when a ball from John Hastings left the parched earth.

But it proved a false alarm for Sussex as the pitch played much as it had the previous day, when only six wickets fell and three of those were given away by Durham batsmen in a hurry.

Durham gave Hastings the Castle End, where the vast majority of wickets had fallen, and after moving one off the pitch to have Ed Joyce caught behind in his third over he kept bounding in for an hour.

He beat Luke Wells several times, but nothing got past the bat from the other end and it was a surprise when Chris Nash chipped Graham Onions to mid-on. His accusing look at the pitch suggested the ball had stopped.

When Paul Coughlin replaced Onions his third ball beat Wells and the fourth was edged just short of Scott Borthwick's right hand at second slip.

Wells was on 102 at lunch with Luke Wright on 36 and everything seemed to hinge on the new ball, due in six overs.