LEFT-HANDED leather-bashers Phil Mustard and Ian Blackwell tuned up for the Twenty20 Cup as Durham beat group winners Gloucestershire by four wickets in the final Friends Provident Trophy tie at Riverside yesterday.

Durham had already failed to qualify for the quarterfinals before they won their last two games, but at least the victories should have lifted morale ahead of Monday’s opening T20 match at Trent Bridge.

Neil Killeen put himself in the frame with a five-wicket haul on his first appearance of the season after a calf injury.

He took three of his wickets when the slog was on in the 49th over, but despite that late stumble Gloucestershire had underlined their one-day prowess by recovering from a poor start to make 254 for eight.

But after Kyle Coetzer got the reply off to a flier with 36 off 35 balls, Mustard polished his T20 tricks in an innings of 57 and Blackwell provided the muscle by making 64.

Both were severe on young left-arm spinner Vikram Banerjee. Mustard reverseswept him for three perfectlytimed fours then Blackwell chipped him over mid-on and mid-off before driving him for a straight six.

Mustard drove a catch to extra cover in the 29th over, but with only 100 required at that stage Dale Benkenstein had time to settle in before helping to secure victory with 11 balls to spare.

There was a slight hiccup when Blackwell pulled Banerjee to deep mid-wicket to bring in Ben Stokes with 42 needed off 11 overs.

When the youngster had faced seven balls without scoring he went down the pitch to Banerjee and was stumped. But with Gareth Breese for company there was never any danger of Benkenstein not completing the task, even though he perished for 44 when the scores were level.

Having started Riverside’s previous FPT games this season at noon, the 10.45 start made a difference as batting proved extremely tricky in the first hour.

Put in by Will Smith, Gloucestershire slumped to 72 for five before New Zealander James Franklin and wicketkeeper Steve Adshead put on 175.

They shattered the previous record sixth-wicket stand against Durham in the premier cup, which was 126 by Chris Taylor and Ant Botha at Derby in 2006.

Franklin made 85 and Adshead a one-day best of 87 before both holed out in the 49th over, during which Killeen also had Jon Lewis caught to finish with five for 48.

Earlier Killeen, right, was on a hat-trick after removing Hamish Marshall with the last ball of his second over and Alex Gidman with the first ball of his third.

The specialist one-day seamer showed he could move the ball either way as Marshall got an inside edge into his stumps and Gidman pushed forward and edged to Mustard.

When Mitch Claydon had Craig Spearman lbw Gloucestershire were 13 for three, and while Chris Taylor emerged to play fluently opener Will Porterfield continued to struggle.

He had faced 42 balls for 12 when he lifted a catch to mid-on off Will Gidman, whose accuracy saw him prove more economical than Liam Plunkett.

It was when shaping to run Plunkett to third man, however, that Taylor played on for an impressive 36.

The position held no fears for Adshead, who came into the match averaging 50.5 in the competition this season.

He showed what a resourceful batsman he is as he initially outpaced ex-Test allrounder Franklin without going for any big shots.

Their sensible rebuilding had seen them put on 82 in 18 overs when Durham called up 17-year-old Stokes. But there was to be no follow-up to bowling Mark Ramprakash with his third ball on his debut as his one over cost 14 runs, as did the next, bowled by Breese.

This sparked the onslaught which brought 94 off nine overs before the late stumble, with Franklin proving a very clean striker as he built on the 74-ball 50 he completed with a huge straight six off Breese.

Adshead shaped to pull Stokes’ sixth ball and topedged it over the wicketkeeper for the four which took him to 50 off 64 balls. He was then dropped twice as he passed his previous one-day best of 77 then swept Killeen for six before 13 came off Blackwell’s final over. It was just as well that Killeen’s treble strike stemmed the flow as 15 more runs might have been crucial.

Scoreboard

Durham v Gloucestershire At Riverside

Gloucestershire Innings

W T Porterfield c Killeen b Gidman .......12

H J Marshall b Killeen .......................... 4

A P Gidman c Mustard b Killeen ........... 0

C M Spearman lbw b Claydon ............. 5

C G Taylor b Plunkett ...........................36

J E Franklin c W R Smith b Killeen ........85

S J Adshead c Benkenstein b Killeen ...87

J Lewis c Blackwell b Killeen ................ 0

A J Ireland not out ........... 5

T P Stayt not out ............ 0

Extras (b1 lb6 w3 nb10 pens 0) ..20

Total 8 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs)....254

Fall: 1-5 2-8 3-13 4-53 5-72 6-247 7-248

8-248. Did Not Bat: V Banerjee.

Bowling: Killeen 10-0-48-5. Claydon 10-1- 47-1. Gidman 10-2-32-1. Plunkett 6-0-31-1.

Blackwell 10-0-47-0. Breese 3-0-28-0.

Stokes 1-0-14-0.

Durham Innings

P Mustard c Marshall b Gidman ...........57

K J Coetzer c Taylor b Stayt ..................36

W R Smith b Banerjee .........................13

I D Blackwell c Lewis b Banerjee ...........64

D M Benkenstein c Lewis b Franklin .....44

B A Stokes st Adshead b Banerjee ....... 0

G R Breese not out .............................16

L E Plunkett not out ......................... 0

Extras (b4 lb10 w7 nb4 pens 0) ..25

Total 6 wkts (48.1 overs)..............255

Fall: 1-63 2-103 3-155 4-213 5-219 6-254 Did Not Bat: W R S Gidman, M E Claydon, N Killeen.

Bowling: Lewis 9.1-1-41-0. Franklin 8-0-36- 1. Stayt 6-0-45-1. Ireland 10-0-36-0. Banerjee 10-1-60-3. Gidman 5-0-23-1.

Durham beat Gloucestershire by 4 wkts

Friends Provident Trophy Group C

................................. P W L D N Pts RR

Gloucestershire .........8 5 2 0 1 11 0.45

Sussex ..................8 4 3 0 1 9 0.12

Yorkshire................8 4 4 0 0 8 -0.15

Durham ..................8 3 5 0 0 6 -0.63