Prior hits maiden hundred to sink Durham

In the latest round of National League matches, Worcestershire came out on top, but only just, in a rain-affected game against Scotland, and Sussex defied the pace of Shoaib Akhtar to set Durham a stiff total at Hove, with Robin Martin-Jenkins picking up three cheap wickets as Durham fell 99 runs short.

Worcestershire batted first after winning the toss at Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh, which had been soaked by morning rain, and were soon on the back foot, when Graeme Hick fell for 7, caught by Dewald Nel off the bowling of Asim Butt. Scotland continued to bowl well, and Worcestershire were reduced to 69 for 6 as five of the top six were dismissed for single figures, but Vikram Solanki (36) and Kabir Ali (33) provided a little stability, and helped Worcs to a total of 128 after 22 overs.

In reply, Scotland lost Asim Butt early, and despite some runs from Sridharan Sriram (24) and Ryan Watson (26), were always behind the required run-rate. David Leatherdale, Kabir Ali and Nadeem Malik picked up wickets regularly, and despite Paul Hoffman's last ditch effort, Scotland were never really in with a shout.

At Hove, Matt Prior's maiden century, and a 69-ball 81 from Chris Adams helped Sussex to a highly competitive 261 for 4 from 45 overs against the Durham bowling attack, lead by Shoaib Akhtar. Prior started fairly slowly, but after passing 50 accelerated well to bring up his hundred only 43 balls later. He finally fell caught by Graham onions off Neil Killeen for 119.

An unbeaten 58 by Gary Pratt was the only highlight for Durham, whose top order were rolled over by Martin-Jenkin's medium pace. Shoaib Akhtar once again failed at number four, and with only Gordon Muchall (22) sticking around for any length of time, Durham crawled to 162 for 8 at the end of their allotted overs.

Worcestershire 128 (Solanki 36) beat Scotland 119 for 7 (Watson 26, Leatherdale 3-28) by 9 runs at Edinburgh
Scorecard

Sussex 261 for 4 (Prior 119, Adams 81) beat Durham 162 for 8 (Pratt 58*, Martin-Jenkins 3-16) by 99 runs at Hove
Scorecard