GARETH BREESE signed off his Durham career in the best possible manner as he hit the winning runs in his side’s three-wicket win over Warwickshire in the Royal London Cup final.

Breese’s edged boundary settled a thrilling finale that swung one way then another on a dark and gloomy day at Lord’s.

The Northern Echo:
Ben Stokes leaps into the air in celebration after Gareth Breese scores the winning runs

Having dismissed Warwickshire for just 165 thanks to an impressive all-round bowling display that saw Chris Rushworth, Paul Collingwood, Ben Stokes and Breese all take at least two wickets, Durham were strong favourites when they started their reply.

The loss of two early wickets rocked them, and the game was well and truly in the balance when they were reduced to 86-5, but skipper Mark Stoneman’s half-century established a strong foundation for their eventual win.

Paul Collingwood’s gritty 21 helped further, before Breese combined with Ben Stokes to put on 36 in an unbeaten eighth-wicket stand that ultimately proved crucial.

The victory means Durham have claimed English cricket’s leading one-day trophy for the second time, and lifted their fifth piece of major silverware as a first-class county.

Winning the toss was an important factor in their victory, although pursuing 166, their run chase could hardly have got off to a worse start.

Phil Mustard was clean bowled by the fourth ball of the innings, and when Calum MacLeod also departed for a duck in the third over – the Scotsman tried to drive Rikki Clarke, but only succeeded in edging to Varun Chopra at first slip – Durham were 12-2.

Stoneman’s positive shot making meant they remained on the front foot, with the one-day skipper hitting eight boundaries in the first eight overs as he punished anything that was marginally too wide from both Clarke and Chris Woakes.

He scored three fours from one particularly wayward over from Woakes, drilling two excellent drives through the covers and bisecting the field on the on-side with an equally eye-catching stroke.

Keaton Jennings provided some decent support in a third-wicket stand worth 48, but Warwickshire’s decision to turn to the spin of Jeetan Patel paid dividends when the slow bowler claimed a wicket in his first over.

Having produced enough turn to slip two deliveries past Jennings’ outside edge, he spun another ball through the Durham batsman’s defences to trap him leg before.

Stoneman continued to look to dominate though, and Durham’s one-day skipper brought up his 43-ball half-century with a fine clip off his legs that secured his ninth boundary. In such a high-pressure situation, it was a fine captain’s knock.

However, it ended shortly after as, for the first time, he took an unnecessary risk and paid a heavy price. With Patel extracting considerable turn, Stoneman completely mistimed a cross-bat slog and was trapped leg before in his crease.

At 74-4, Durham opted for the reliability of Collingwood ahead of the explosive unpredictability of Stokes as they shuffled their order, and the former England skipper’s experience was even more in demand when Scott Borthwick departed for 12 to leave his side at 86-5.

It was another rash dismissal prompted by Patel’s turn, with Borthwick failing to connect with an attempted sweep and being adjudged lbw in his own crease.

Collingwood’s sixth-wicket partnership with Stokes quickly felt like it would be the decisive factor in the game, and the pair put on 31 before Collingwood departed.

Having looked in no trouble at all prior to his dismissal, the all-rounder sliced a catch to Will Porterfield in the gully.

Gordon Muchall fell for nine when he became Patel’s fourth lbw victim, but Stokes and Breese came together to see Durham home.

Stokes reined in his usual attacking instincts to ensure he stuck around to the conclusion, but it was fitting that Breese hit the winning runs given that he is retiring at the end of the season.

With heavy cloud cover overhead, it was always going to be an important toss for Durham to win, but having elected to put Warwickshire into bat, the North-Easterners still had to make the most of the prevailing conditions.

To their credit, they were controlled and incisive from the off, and the fact that four of their bowlers took at least two wickets underlined the strength of the combined effort from the bowling unit as a whole.

Rushworth struck first, removing Porterfield in the fifth over the day as the opener edged behind to Mustard, but it was Collingwood that struck the first really telling blow as he trapped former England team-mate Jonathan Trott leg before for two.

That left Warwickshire in trouble at 29-2, but Chopra combined with Tim Ambrose to stage a recovery of sorts as they put on 34 for the third wicket.

Ambrose went when he edged Collingwood to Breese at first slip, and the dismissal sparked a run of three wickets for five runs in the space of 18 balls that ripped the heart out of the Warwickshire middle order.

Laurie Evans gloved a short-pitched delivery from Stokes to Breese at second slip, before Stokes beat Clarke for pace and clean bowled him for two.

That left Warwickshire reeling at 68-5, and while Chris Woakes arrived to throw the bat around, Durham’s bowlers were always able to exert sufficient control to force mistakes from their opponents.

Woakes scored four quick boundaries, but succumbed for 23 when he attempted to clip Breese to the long-on boundary. MacLeod looked to have misjudged the flight of the ball, but he successfully adjusted his body to take a magnificent twisting catch.

Chopra’s resistance ended three overs later, and while his 64 was the cornerstone of his side’s innings, he will have been disappointed at the sloppy manner in which he was dismissed. Looking to work the ball into the leg side, he was bowled around his legs by Rushworth.

Patel cracked a huge six off Breese as Warwickshire’s tail looked to counter, but he fell to the very next ball as he spooned a catch to Jennings at backward point.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby departed as he lobbed a catch to Stokes at mid-on to give Breese his third wicket of the innings, and the Warwickshire innings ended with three overs to spare when some good work in the field from Borthwick resulted in Boyd Rankin being run out.