DURHAM have reached the halfway stage of their NatWest T20 Blast programme with four wins and three defeats and a repeat in the second half should see them through to the quarter-finals.

The fact that they are top of the North group is hugely misleading, however, as the lopsided fixture list has seen them play four games more than some of their rivals.

They lost by seven wickets in Saturday's windswept battle at home to the holders, Birmingham Bears, otherwise known as Warwickshire, who have won three out of four and were indebted to a master-class from Ian Bell.

He outshone Ben Stokes in the battle of England colleagues as his 90 off 65 balls allowed the Bears to pass Durham's 163 for seven with five balls to spare.

Stokes scored 40 off 28 balls but had a nightmare with the ball, conceding 44 in three overs, mostly to Bell, who drove and pulled his first two balls for six.

Stokes was also fortunate not to be removed from the attack when he bowled a second full toss above waist height. He had been warned after the first but was allowed to continue because the second was deemed to be a slower ball.

Usman Arshad was not so fortunate when he transgressed in similar fashion last season and also received an unnecessary three-point disciplinary slap on the wrist.

It appeared to unsettle him, but his T20 bowling has impressed this season and hindsight suggests he should have bowled his full allocation on Saturday, rather than recalling Stokes for the 16th over.

Bell drove two fours down the ground and guided two more to third man either side of the no-ball for the high full toss, after which the Bears were able to cruise home despite his exit in the 18th over.

Will Porterfield, who rarely makes four-day runs against Durham but is a regular one-day thorn, completed the task with an unbeaten 41 off 32 balls.

Stokes departed afterwards to join up with the England one-day squad, but Bell has been left out and will continue to strengthen the Bears' bid for a home quarter-final, something Durham have enjoyed only once.

If they are to have a chance of securing a home tie this year they will certainly have to win their next game, at home to Worcestershire on Friday night.

They will strengthen the bowling by recalling Chris Rushworth in place of Stokes and will again have to consider moving John Hastings up to No 6, as they did at home to Yorkshire.

His unbeaten 37 in that match lifted the total to 182 for four, setting a more daunting challenge than the Bears faced after Hastings departed in the last over, having made 21 off 12 balls. He went in at No 8, below Ryan Pringle.

Put in, which meant they batted first for the sixth time in seven T20 games, Durham made a poor start. They had made only six when Phil Mustard fell in the third over, tamely pulling an innocuous ball from Oliver Hannon-Dalby to mid-wicket.

Calum MacLeod, back from Scotland duty, should have gone for nine when a leading edge offered Recordo Gordon a simple return catch. But the Jamaica-born paceman juggled it several times and failed to hang on.

As in last year's Royal London Cup final, the Bears did not select Keith Barker against his favourite opponents and the logic of preferring Boyd Rankin was questionable as soon as he came on for the sixth over.

Two of the big Irishman's first three balls were short enough for Mark Stoneman to pull and although he top-edged them both flew high to fine leg, for four and six.

MacLeod also cut a four as the over cost 15, taking Durham to 51 at the end of the six-over powerplay.

But Stoneman then departed for 18, lbw to a yorker-length ball from Gordon to bring in Stokes, who pulled the off-spin of Ateeq Javid for six two overs later.

With Jeetan Patel at the other end both batsmen proved very adept at finding the gap between long-on and deep mid-wicket as the total reached 82 at the halfway point.

But the momentum stalled as MacLeod drove Javid to long-on to depart for 41 off 27 balls then Paul Collingwood was run out for four.

He set off from the non-striker's end but was sent back by Stokes and couldn't beat Porterfield's direct hit from backward point.

Stokes gave himself room to swing through a leg-stump ball from Rankin and hit it for a straight six, but the Bears' gamble on leaving Javid on for his fourth over paid dividends when he had Stokes lbw for 40 attempting a reverse sweep.

When Hannon-Dalby returned for the 18th over in preference to Rikki Clarke his first ball was driven for a straight six by Hastings. But he drove the Yorkshire reject to extra cover in the final over, leaving Gordon Muchall to drive the next ball for his only boundary in making an unbeaten 30 off 20 balls.

Muchall had again done the job he is selected for, but the total always looked ten short of requirements.