Oli Carter steers nervy run chase as Sussex defeat Durham

Sussex won their opening match in the LV= Insurance County Championship for the first time since 2015 after Oli Carter's unbeaten 33 guided them to a two-wicket victory against Durham.

Carter, the 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, fittingly hit the winning runs when he pulled Brydon Carse for the second of two fours in an over, having supervised what was at times a nervy run chase.

Sussex began the final day at the 1st Central County Ground on 172 for 5 and requiring a further 59 runs and things initially went smoothly on a Hove pitch showing little sign of deterioration.

Carter and nightwatcher Sean Hunt added 29 with Hunt taking boundaries in successive overs off Matthew Potts to ease the nerves.

Potts was replaced by left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann after bowling just two overs but it was Carse, during a fine six-over spell, who made the breakthrough when he angled the ball across Hunt and wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson dived in front of slip to take a fine catch. Nonetheless, with 14 runs, Hunt had done his job.

Durham sensed an opportunity and Kuhnemann took two wickets in four overs from the sea end to make them favourites, although neither of his victims - Fynn Hudson-Prentice or Nathan McAndrew - will be rushing to see replays of their dismissals.

Hudson-Prentice got a top-edge sweeping and was caught at short fine leg and McAndrew, tied down by the accuracy of his compatriot, was stumped after coming down the pitch aiming to heave Kuhnemann over long on.

Sussex were suddenly 208 for 8 and still 23 short of their target, Durham having taken 3 for 15 in 11 overs. But Carter found a reliable partner in Jack Carson, and they were helped when Kuhnemann fired two balls down the leg side in successive overs which were missed by Robinson and went for a total of seven wides.

Durham brought back Carse in a final throw of the dice but Carter pulled his third and fifth deliveries through square to the boundary before being embraced by his partner.

Sussex have only won once in each of their last three Championship campaigns so this will do wonders for their confidence, while Durham, who had a first-innings lead of 41, will reflect that poor second-innings batting cost them victory.

Paul Farbrace, the Sussex head coach, said: "It was a bit nervy today but great to get over the line. The way our four seamers bowled on the third day, when they backed each other up, was outstanding and set the game up for us.

"If there was a man of the match I'd give it to Oli Carter. The way he kept wicket in both innings and the way he batted in the first innings, when we were 91 for 4 and he put together a partnership with [Cheteshwar] Pujara, and then again today was outstanding. In both innings he played really calmly and particularly this morning showed a lot of composure. He deserved to be the bloke who got us over the line.

"It's a great lesson for our team because it has shown they can beat good opponents. Hopefully the confidence this result gives our players, to have played in a really tough game on a fantastic cricket pitch, gives us something to really build on going forward."

Carse said: "We're obviously disappointed to be on the losing side but over the last four days the way we have gone about our business and the cricket we are trying to play has been really positive.

"We came into today fully believing that we were going to win but maybe if we'd got 20 or 30 more runs in our second innings we could have won. Obviously that's in hindsight."