Phil cuts the Mustard to fire Durham into top spot

Wicketkeeper Phil Mustard thrashed the fastest 50 in the one-day league for Durham off 25 balls, held three catches and pulled off the slick stumping which settled the issue.

After choosing to bat, Durham totalled 256 for four and won by 51 runs after Yorkshire were all out for 205.

While the rapid half-centuries by local lads Mustard and Nicky Peng provided the gloss, Durham also proved the value of solid foundations with an opening stand of 85 between Mike Hussey and Jon Lewis.

Yorkshire reached 85 four overs faster but had lost four wickets, leaving a lot of responsibility on England captain Michael Vaughan, who was allowed to play while Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard were not.

Vaughan played impressively for 31, but when he edged the gentle medium pace of Dale Benkenstein to Mustard it was 99 for five and Yorkshire's only hope was a big innings from Australian one-day specialist Ian Harvey.

He made 47 and there was still a chance he might win the game until, standing outside his crease, he missed a yorker outside off stump from Paul Collingwood and Mustard smartly whipped off the bails.

Jon Lewis then held a brilliant one-handed catch at mid-wicket to get rid of Ismail Dawood for 42, and Gareth Breese took the last two wickets as Yorkshire were all out with 4.4 overs unused.

Durham's total was the biggest at Riverside in the one-day league since they made 275 for three against Nottinghamshire three years ago, when Collingwood scored 118 not out.

Pitches since then have been slow and teams have struggled to top 200, but this was a good time to turn up the entertainment in front of a crowd of 3,200.

It was the first time a one-day match this season had been played in the middle of the square and after a week of dry weather the ball seemed to come on to the bat much better.

If Peng set the blood coursing through the veins with a 51-ball half-century then Mustard really had pulses racing.

Mustard's first half-century in this competition came off 12 deliveries fewer than Durham's one-day league record, the 37-ball effort by Gary Pratt at Taunton two years ago.

It was the perfect one-day innings by Durham as they reached 64 without loss after 20 overs then gradually stepped it up until they thrashed 97 off the last ten.

Peng's failures had been the one disappointment of the season to date, and he initially looked all at sea when he went in at 85 for one in the 23rd over with spinners on at both ends.

The fact that Richard Dawson had made a few turn sharply prompted Yorkshire to give Vaughan a few overs.

The England captain varied his flight and Peng completely misjudged what was almost a donkey drop, looking fortunate to survive the lbw appeal.

But he suddenly began to middle the ball and was on 47 when his stand of 71 in 12 overs with Hussey ended with the captain's exit for 66.

Harvey replaced Vaughan and Peng drove his slower ball for a straight six and when skipper Craig White came on for Dawson his fifth ball disappeared over long-off.

White went into the match with nine wickets at 5.7 in the competition this season, but his five overs yesterday brought figures of one for 43.

Peng also hit six fours in reaching 60 before he tried to hit Anthony McGrath's medium pace over mid-wicket and was bowled, bringing in Mustard in the 38th over.

It was the perfect time for him to come in and he was promoted two places up the order to take advantage.

In the next over Collingwood, playing his 100th match in the competition, pulled White behind square for six, but he was out-scored by Mustard in their stand of 49 in five overs.

The wicketkeeper drove powerfully through the off-side, calmly flipped Harvey to fine leg for four, then hoisted leg-side sixes off Harvey and Tim Bresnan. He survived a run-out chance on 41and completed his 50 in the last over with a lofted four to long-on.

It was all in stark contrast to Durham's sedate start against accurate bowling from Bresnan and Deon Kruis.

The South African occasionally troubled left-hander Hussey by bringing one back into him, but he generally bowled just wide of off stump and the Durham openers left a lot of balls as Kruis bowled straight through his nine overs for 18 runs.

In the only scoring flurry in the first 20 overs Hussey hit three fours in the fifth over off Bresnan, two off the back foot through the covers and one driven past mid-off.

Jon Lewis made only three in the first ten overs, but then started to play fluently and had contributed 34 to the stand of 85 when he went down the pitch to Dawson and was well stumped by Ismail Dawood off a leg-side wide.

Hussey, who had made 18 runs in three totesport innings, swept Dawson to long leg for his seventh four to complete a 75-ball half-century. But he fell for 66 when he pulled White to Michael Lumb at deep backward square.

Collingwood made 26 off 21 balls before a superbly-timed clip off Bresnan was brilliantly held by Matthew Wood running round the mid-wicket boundary.

Mustard kept the board moving, but Durham handed Yorkshire their first six runs through their inability to control the swinging ball.

Liam Plunkett bowled three wides in his first over, and eight in total, and Neil Killeen's first ball was too wide for the agile Mustard to reach, resulting in a wide and two byes.

In his second over Plunkett surprised White with a straight yorker, then left-hander Phil Jaques nibbled at a good ball from Killeen and edged to Mustard.

That brought in Vaughan at 26 for two in the sixth over, and although he lost opener Wood on 61 he was soon stroking the ball into spaces with immaculate timing.

He needed a partner, however, and McGrath followed his unbeaten 165 at Leicester on Saturday by falling for seven, edging an away swinger to Mustard in Collingwood's first over.

Vaughan was next to go, then another bowling change brought instant reward as Lumb went back instead of forward to Breese and was lbw.

Even when Harvey was threatening to turn the game, Breese kept it tight, stepping up the pressure which resulted in Yorkshire's rapid capitulation at the death.

Read more about Durham here.