CAMERON BANCROFT scored his first century for Durham to kickstart their Royal London One-Day Cup campaign with a 72-run win over Northamptonshire at Emirates Riverside

The Aussie blasted an unbeaten 151 from 130 deliveries, sharing a record-breaking fourth wicket stand with Michael Richardson, who also notched a ton to set Northants a daunting total of 343 to chase.

Jason Holder and Alex Wakely put forward impressive efforts with the bat for the visitors. However, Matt Salisbury (3-51) and Matthew Potts (4-62) held their composure with the ball to guide Durham over the line to get off the mark in the 50-over format.

New Durham captain Bancroft said: "We've had a couple of tough games in the Championship. Winning always creates a nice feeling in the dressing room. The guys have been working hard so it's nice to start this tournament really well and personally it was nice to get some runs.

"Hopefully [I'm winning the crowd over]. I'm just going out there to enjoy my cricket and to enjoy playing for Durham. Hopefully making some runs and if that's going to win them over, fantastic. We did some really good things in this game, hopefully we can continue them against Leicestershire on Friday.

"When you're playing at home you want to have an advantage. It's quite a big oval so you need to run hard between the wickets and bowl to suit the conditions. I think we can make it a fortress for us. We had a lot of guys play their first games for us. A lot of inexperience and they certainly would have learned a lot."

Durham's day did start poorly when Ben Sanderson dismissed Graham Clark and Alex Lees in the second over. Scott Steel counter-attacked with a flurry of boundaries, including three in a row off Holder. He reached his maiden one-day fifty with a boundary, his eighth of his innings. The 19-year-old and Bancroft put on 119 before the opener was bowled by Liam Procter for a fine knock of 68.

Bancroft took centre stage first notching his first fifty for Durham. The Aussie then began to dominate the Northamptonshire bowlers with his power down the ground. He blasted three sixes at the beginning of his partnership with Richardson.They manipulated the field before picking their moments to find the boundary to put on a stand of 100 for the fourth wicket. Bancroft upped the ante to record his first Durham century. He blasted a six into the County Durham Stand before nudging a single down the ground to reach the milestone in 103 deliveries.

Richardson provided more than a useful foil for his skipper at the other end, making his first fifty of the term. Durham were chasing a score of over 300 and the duo pushed their side on by reaching the 150 partnership. Bancroft and Richardson broke the north-east outfit's highest partnership for the fourth wicket as the Aussie smashed his fifth sixth of the innings.

Landmarks continued as the stand reached 200, with Richardson notching his third one-day century in the process. He would fall for 102 in the final over, ending the stand at 208 runs. There was still time for Bancroft to reach his 150, crunching a boundary to leg-side boundary as Durham posted an imposing total of 342-5 from their 50 overs.

Salisbury made a bright start with the ball to peg back the visitors, removing the dangerous Josh Cobb for 12, while Rob Newton followed losing his leg-stump for nine. Richard Levi blasted three boundaries and a six as he attempted to kickstart the Northants innings. However, Salisbury pinned him lbw for 28 to put Durham in command of the contest.

Wakely and Adam Rossington dug in to provide resistance. They put on a stand of 74 for the fourth wicket, which was only broken by a good delivery from Matthew Potts to bowl Rossington for 40. Holder joined the Northants skipper in the middle, and the duo constructed another solid partnership, grinding down the total.

Wakely was proving to be a thorn in Durham's side, earning the 15th half-century of his List A career, edging his team over the 200-run mark. Trevaskis made the crucial strike to break the partnership of 89 as Wakely departed 66 when he was caught on the fence.

Holder kept the chase alive, bludgeoning his way over fifty with ease. The West Indies skipper put forward a valiant attempt to guide Northants over the line with his innings. However, he fell for 86 to Trevaskis going for a big strike into the leg side. His dismissal was the beginning of the end for Northants, who slumped to a 72-run defeat, losing their final four wickets for just three runs.