GARETH BREESE’S dream of bowing out in a Lord’s final lives on after Durham won yesterday’s Royal London Cup quarter-final against Yorkshire at Headingley by 31 runs.

Mark Stoneman’s century provided the cornerstone of Durham’s 237 then after looking like cruising to victory Yorkshire imploded in the face of exemplary bowling.

That was led by tight tenover spells from Breese and Paul Collingwood, the offspinner taking one for 31 while the four-day captain maintained his brilliant form in the 50-over competition with two for 29 in addition to 38 runs.

John Hastings and Chris Rushworth also bowled well, but Paul Coughlin was out of luck and Scott Borthwick came under fire as Rich Pyrah threatened to revive Yorkshire.

They had subsided from 133 for two to 170 for eight but 32 were added and the target was down to 34 from 19 balls when Steve Patterson swung wildly and was bowled by Rushworth. Pyrah was left stranded on 29 when last man Jack Brooks was run out with the total on 206.

Durham looked to be at least 20 short of requirements after Stoneman’s exit sparked a collapse. He had made 102 out of 178 when he was fourth out in the 40th over and they were all out with eight balls unused.

Patterson bowled with metronomic accuracy and Adil Rashid also impressed, and the pressure they created resulted in a succession of batsmen going to the crease feeling they needed to score quickly.

After scoring only eight off the first three overs, Stoneman and Phil Mustard took 30 off the next four as Tim Bresnan and Brooks gave them too many opportunities to drive. When Pyrah came on for the ninth over Stoneman pulled him for six, but Patterson blocked up the other end, conceding 15 runs in seven overs, and with the introduction of Rashid the runs dried up.

Mustard grew frustrated and fell for 23 when he tried to reverse sweep the legspinner and gave a bat-pad catch to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

Calum MacLeod was immediately beaten by Rashid and didn’t look comfortable in scoring four off 14 balls before he shaped to drive Patterson and was bowled.

Borthwick scored ten off 24 balls before driving Rashid to mid-on, leaving Durham on 98 for three after 25 overs when Collingwood went in.

He had made only eight when he drove Pyrah over long-on for six, but Stoneman continued to dominate.

A pull, an on-drive and a straight drive gave him three fours in an over off Brooks.

At that point Stoneman had made 75 out of 118, but Collingwood contributed his share as 33 came off the five overs of batting powerplay.

He worked Patterson fine to third man for two fours just before Stoneman drove a single to long-on off Rashid to reach 100 off 117 balls.

Rashid, who showed good control and turned several balls past the outside edge, finished his ten overs with two for 37 and with the return of Pyrah and Brooks the batsmen obviously felt they needed to push on.

Stoneman top-edged a sweep off Pyrah to be caught at square leg then Collingwood middled a Brooks long hop straight to deep midwicket.

Only Gordon Muchall of the remaining batsmen threatened anything substantial, making 26 off 21 balls before driving to long-on.

Coughlin was hugely unfortunate as his three overs at the start of Yorkshire’s innings cost 29 runs. Although he bowled five wides his good balls troubled the openers and he had both missed by Mustard.

Adam Lyth also inside edged him just wide of leg stump before he edged a drive to Mustard in Hastings’ first over. Kane Williamson pushed forward at the next ball as though uncertain whether to play at it and also edged to the wicketkeeper.

Gary Ballance, released from the England one-day squad, survived a return chance to Hastings on nought to share a stand of 75 with Alex Lees. The opener fell for 49, driving Rushworth to short extra cover, and two balls later Bairstow played back and edged to Mustard, who took a good catch standing up.

Then skipper Andrew Gale became the third member of Yorkshire’s top six to record a duck when he lifted his back foot and was smartly stumped by Mustard off Breese.

A big responsibility now rested on Ballance’s shoulders, but when he had the chance to profit from two Borthwick long hops in the 41st over he scored one off the first and hit the second down deep square leg’s throat.

An off-cutter from Collingwood bowled Bresnan off his pads, and although Pyrah hit Borthwick for four fours he was left with too much to do with too little assistance.

Yorkshire v Durham
At Headingley Carnegie

Durham
M D Stoneman c Ballance b Pyrah 102
P Mustard c Bairstow b A U Rashid 23
C S MacLeod b Patterson.................... 4
S G Borthwick c Bresnan b A U Rashid 10
P D Collingwood c Ballance b Brooks..38
K K Jennings c & b Pyrah ..................... 2
G J Muchall c Williamson b Pyrah....26
G R Breese c Bresnan b Patterson . 13
J W Hastings b Patterson..................... 6
P Couglin not out ................................... 2
C Rushworth b Pyrah ............................ 3
Extras (b4 lb2 w2 pens 0) ... 8
Total (48.4 overs).............. 237
Fall: 1-57 2-69 3-98 4-178 5-182 6-184
7-208 8-223 9-232
Bowling: Bresnan 9-0-51-0. Brooks
9-1-46-1. Patterson 10-1-39-3. Pyrah
9.4-0-51-4. A U Rashid 10-0-37-2. Lyth
1-0-7-0.

Yorkshire
A Lyth c Mustard b Hastings..............28
A Z Lees c Stoneman b Rushworth .49
K S Williamson c Mustard b Hastings.. 0
G S Ballance c Couglin b Borthwick.. 61
J M Bairstow c Mustard b Rushworth . 0
A W Gale st Mustard b Breese........... 0
A U Rashid c Muchall b Collingwood . 6
T T Bresnan b Collingwood ............... 12
R M Pyrah not out ................................29
S A Patterson b Rushworth ................. 8
J A Brooks run out.................................. 0
Extras (lb6 w7 pens 0) ....... 13
Total (48.1 overs) .............. 206
Fall: 1-58 2-58 3-133 4-133 5-138
6-147 7-168 8-170 9-204
Couglin 4-0-34-0. Rushworth 7.1-1-23-
3. Breese 10-1-31-1. Hastings 9-0-38-
2. Collingwood 10-0-29-2. Borthwick
8-0-45-1.

Durham (0pts) beat Yorkshire (0pts) by 31 runs