PHIL Mustard apart, Durham batted poorly in the top-of-the-group clash at Edgbaston, limping along to 200 for nine in their 40 overs. They hit only 12 fours and two sixes, wich were 36 overs apart.

As Warwickshire had comfortably topped 300 here against Leicestershire last week, Durham made a fairly frenzied start after choosing to bat in good conditions.

All looked well when Ian Blackwell drove a straight six off Chris Woakes in the second over but several other attempted big hits were mistimed and were close to offering catches.

Blackwell departed for 22 with the total on 43 in the eighth over and it proved to be the biggest stand as batsmen continued to get out when looking to accelerate.

Warwickshire looked a more skilled one-day outfit than the two teams Durham had beaten in this competition, with the bowlers continually mixing up their pace and length.

One-day expert Darren Maddy, recently returned from an injury which kept him out for a year, proved very effective with his gentle in-swingers, taking three for 25.

Blackwell was yorked in the first over bowled by Boyd Rankin, just back from playing for Ireland in the World Twenty20 jamboree.

The second bowling change brought on Keith Barker, godson of Sir Clive Lloyd, who played with Barker’s father for Guyana.

Barker replaced fellow left-armer Neil Carter at the building site end, where everything has been flattened to make way for the sort of grandiose development which is necessary these days as nine Test grounds compete for seven Tests a year.

When Mustard clubbed Barker for four over wide mid-on in the 13th over it was the first boundary for seven overs and there were not many more.

The need to hold the innings together kept the shackles on Mustard, who hit five fours in making 61 off 73 balls. The next highest scorer was Gordon Muchall with 26, but he perished at an inopportune time by driving to long-off in the 31st over.

Ben Harmison drove Barker to short extra cover, Will Smith skied an attempted sweep off Imran Tahir, and Ben Stokes was unlucky to be adjudged lbw to the leg-spinner. The raised finger always seemed inevitable from Vanburn Holder, who retires at the end of the season.

Maddy had Mustard lbw when playing across a full-length swinger and similar deliveries bowled Gareth Breese for a useful 25 and Liam Plunkett, again playing purely as a batsman.

Steve Harmison calmly lifted Maddy for a straight six before holing out at long-on in the final over, which yielded only three runs.