Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck a timely century to boost Durham's hopes of staying in the Division One title race.

After the first day washout, Sussex won the toss and put Durham in at the Riverside and despite all their batsmen getting in, they were reduced to 99-3.

Jason Lewry and Mohammad Sami took two wickets each, but the turning point came when Gareth Breese (63 not out) joined Chanderpaul (130 not out).

The pair put on an unbroken 182 to put Durham in a promising position.

But the loss of Wednesday's play, half an hour at the start of Thursday while the outfield dried and a further six overs to bad light at the end of the day could prove costly to the hosts.

After being put in by Sussex they got off to a solid start courtesy of Michael di Venuto and Ben Harmison, until the Australian was trapped lbw by Lewry for 34.

Harmison (30) and Will Smith (23) battled on before Sami removed them both and suddenly Durham were in a bit of trouble.

Dale Benkenstein also got a start, scoring 29 from 38 balls and looking in good touch until he edged Lewry behind to Matt Prior.

So began the rebuilding job between Chanderpaul and Breese and the latter, in his opening first-class display of the season, batted sensibly and in support of his more illustrious partner.

Durham are well placed, but they will need to quickly press on on Friday morning if they are to produce a positive result from the remaining two days.