HAD it been the perfect script, Gareth Breese’s winning boundary for Durham at Lord’s on Saturday would have flown off the middle of the bat.

Instead it flew off the edge as he tried to leave the ball, but it mattered not to the dancing Durham fans in a corner of the ground or to Breese’s jubilant team-mates on their dressing room balcony.

Clinching their fifth trophy in eight seasons brought a tumultuous end to what, sadly, had been a fairly low-key day.

Staging what should be a showpiece occasion so late in the season that it was enveloped by an autumnal gloom was shown to be deeply misguided.

Erecting floodlights at this hallowed ground initially met some opposition and their use is limited to a few days a year.

This was not supposed to be one of them but they were on throughout as otherwise the deep pall which hung around all day would have prevented play.

With the flags hanging limp it seemed only the lack of breese was preventing the trees of St John’s Wood from shedding their leaves. But come the climax there was a Breese and he created quite a stir.

Twenty20 finals day has evidently taken over as the highlight of the domestic one-day calendar and Warwickshire had already won that in front of a full house on their own ground.

Other than in the mesmeric off-spin of Jeetan Patel, a half full Lord’s failed to inspire them, especially after losing what was bound to be an important toss.

By including Paul Coughlin in place of the unavailable John Hastings, Durham swelled the ranks of Wearsiders to four and the two cousins among them struck the first blow.

Off the last ball of the fifth over left-hander Will Porterfield felt for an away swinger from Chris Rushworth and edged to Phil Mustard, who held a good, low catch.

Coughlin, making his first appearance at Lord’s, bowled very accurately in conceding only 12 runs in his opening five-over spell.

He beat Varun Chopra in his first over and in his second the Warwickshire captain edged him through slips.

Paul Collingwood replaced Coughlin in the 12th over and struck with his third ball, his joyful reaction reflecting the fact that he knew it was a crucial blow.

Jonathan Trott, who scored a century against Durham in the group game at South Northumberland, had spent 14 balls over two runs when he shaped to play through mid-wicket and missed.

Umpire Peter Hartley upheld the lbw appeal and the replay confirmed that the ball would have clipped leg stump. It was a day when Hartley and Michael Gough got everything right.

When Chopra straight drove Rushworth for four in the 13th over it was the first boundary since a thick edge by Porterfield in the third.

Durham put down two difficult chances, both from edges off Ben Stokes, but neither was costly and a brilliant catch by Calum MacLeod came at a crucial time.

It ended the only period when Warwickshire built any momentum and as it came just before they had to take the batting powerplay Chopra would not have been pleased to see Chris Woakes get out.

He tried to hit Breese over MacLeod, standing on the circle at mid-on, and the Scot ran a few paces towards the pavilion before turning back to face the ball with perfect timing.

Just as it seemed certain to elude him he leapt to cling on.

The powerplay was taken with the score on 122 for six after 35 overs.

This was the point at which Durham went berserk in their semi-final, amassing 174 off the last 15 overs, but Warwickshire managed only ten off five.

They also lost Chopra, who must have been torn between trying to crack on and bat through the innings. After working hard for his 64, he stepped across, aiming to leg glance Rushworth, and lost his leg stump.

Chopra sank to his haunches, probably suspecting the trophy had slipped from his grasp, and although Patel drove Breese for six he sliced the next ball to backward point to become one of the off-spinner’s three victims.

Rushworth, Stokes and Collingwood had two each and the last man was run out with three overs unused.

The total of 165 did not look competitive, but Durham quickly slipped to 12 for two as Mustard and MacLeod both failed to score. The former was yorked by Rikki Clarke, the latter had already failed to connect with two expansive shots when he edged Clarke to slip.

Keaton Jennings was sent in to steady the ship and he did the job, while Mark Stoneman eased the pressure with the most fluent batting of the match.

Woakes pitched the ball up, looking for swing, and Stoneman kept driving him either through the covers or wide of mid-on.

Any comparison between Stokes and Woakes seemed laughable as the Warwickshire man’s first 22 balls cost 34 runs.

Durham bowled much better as a unit and would be relieved that their nemesis, left-arm swing bowler Keith Barker, was not selected.

Boyd Rankin did not pose problems either and when Stoneman pulled him in front of mid-wicket for his ninth four he reached 50 off 43 balls with the total on 71.

Patel made a game of it, bowling round the wicket to the left-handers and firing in his off breaks at leg stump with plenty of turn.

He gained lbw verdicts against Stoneman, Jennings and Scott Borthwick, who tried to sweep a straight one, and had figures of three for five after five overs.

Durham were rocking on 86 for five, but Stokes had been held back to No 7 and 31 were added before Collingwood’s steady innings of 21 ended when he sliced to backward point.

Gordon Muchall made nine before becoming Patel’s fourth lbw victim, bringing in Breese with 36 needed.

Chopra blundered by giving Patel a break and Stokes took ten off an over from Clarke, then Breese hit a back-foot through point off Oliver Hannon- Dalby.

The rest of their strokes were not quite so well-timed, but they found a way to get the job done with 9.4 overs to spare.

Scoreboard

Durham v Warwickshire
At Lord’s.
Warwickshire
V Chopra b Rushworth .........................64
(bowled behind his legs, 113 balls, 5
fours)
W Porterfield c Mustard b Rushworth.... 9
(thin edge to a ball that seamed, 14
balls, 1 four)
I J Trott lbw b Collingwood..................... 2
(beaten as he tried to work to leg, 15
balls)
T Ambrose c Breese b Collingwood.. 11
(slashed at a wide one and edged to
slip, 23 balls, 1 four)
L J Evans c Breese b Stokes ................. 0
(gloved short-pitched delivery to
second slip, 5 balls)
R Clarke b Stokes .................................... 2
(beaten for pace as he played across
a straight one, 9 balls)
C R Woakes c MacLeod b Breese ....23
(brilliant twisting catch at mid-on, 31
balls, 4 fours)
A Javid not out.........................................22
(38 balls, 1 six)
J S Patel c Jennings b Breese............. 14
(spooned a catch to backward point,
14 balls, 1 four, 2 six)
O J H’non-Dalby c Stokes b Breese..... 6
(lobbed a catch to mid-on, 14 balls)
W B Rankin run out ................................. 1
(beaten trying to take a second, 6
balls)
Extras (lb4 w7 pens 0) ....... 11
Total (47 overs).................. 165
Fall: 1-16 2-29 3-63 4-64 5-68 6-115
7-123 8-144 9-162
Bowling: Rushworth 10-2-24-2. Couglin
8-0-30-0. Collingwood 10-0-36-2. Stokes
9-0-25-2. Breese 7-0-30-3. Jennings 1-0-
9-0. Borthwick 2-0-7-0.


Durham
M D Stoneman lbw b Patel...................52
(tried a cross-bat slog and missed
ball, 52 balls, 10 fours)
P Mustard b Clarke.................................. 0
(beaten for pace by yorker, 2 balls)
C S MacLeod c Chopra b Clarke......... 0
(mistimed drive and edged to first
slip, 7 balls)
K K Jennings lbw b Patel ........................ 8
(beaten by spin looking to push
through off, 27 balls, 1 four)
S G Borthwick lbw b Patel................... 12
(attempted a sweep across the line,
23 balls, 1 four)
P D Collingwood c Porterfield b
Hannon-Dalby.......................................... 21
(sliced a catch to gully, 36 balls, 2
fours)
B A Stokes not out.................................38
(59 balls, 5 fours)
G J Muchall lbw b Patel .......................... 9
(played back to a ball hitting middle,
12 balls, 1 four)
G R Breese not out................................ 15
(24 balls, 3 fours)
Extras (lb5 w6 pens 0) ....... 11
Total 7 wkts (40.2 overs). 166
Fall: 1-6 2-12 3-60 4-74 5-86 6-117 7-130
Did Not Bat: P Couglin, C Rushworth.
Bowling: Clarke 7-3-20-2. Woakes 7.2-0-
50-0. Hannon-Dalby 7-2-22-1. Patel 10-2-
25-4. Rankin 9-0-44-0.


Durham beat Warwickshire by 3 wkts