KYLE Coetzer proved the scourge of his fellow Scots with his maiden one-day century for Durham at The Grange.

His unbeaten 110 underpinned a total of 278 for four, but it was hoisted beyond expectations by a whirlwind cameo from acting captain Gareth Breese.

Thrust into the leadership when Dale Benkenstein hurt his right knee in the warm-up, Breese thrashed 47 not out off a mere 18 balls, including four sixes.

The upshot was that Durham, after scoring only 49 runs between the 20th and 30th overs, hammered 127 off the final ten to put the game beyond the Scots.

They replied with 198 all out as Durham made it four wins out of five in the CB 40 League to join Surrey at the top of their group. The Londoners have a game in hand, having won all four matches, but like Durham they are slightly flattered by having played Scotland twice.

Durham's next game in this competition is at Edgbaston on Sunday against holders Warwickshire, which should give them a clearer idea of whether they can challenge for the Lord's final.

Durham's fastest one-day 50 is a 21-ball effort by Phil Mustard, so Breese might have beaten that had he gone in at No 5 ahead of Will Smith, who was called in at the last minute for Benkenstein.

Going in at the tail-end of a one-day innings is not Smith's forte, but when Breese went in with 4.3 overs left he immediately set about the seamers, hitting Gordon Drummond for four and Calvin Burnett for six.

Three more sixes followed off Drummond and Gordon Goudie, but the chance to reach 50 in the final over just eluded him.

Coetzer, born in Aberdeen, has played in five one-day internationals and nine Twenty20s for Scotland. He scored 51 against England on this same Edinburgh ground last year, when he featured only twice in Durham's one-day side, batting at No 7.

He has been given a chance at the top of the order this season and had totalled 49 runs in five innings prior to yesterday.

No Durham player made a one-day century for Durham last year and Coetzer's score was the highest for the county in this event since Australian Marcus North also made 110 at Worcester in 2004. In those days it was a 45-over competition.

After Scotland chose to field in breezy conditions they enjoyed an early success when Mustard holed out at deep mid-wicket for five in the fourth over. The man who couldn't fail in this competition two years ago has now made 40 runs in five innings.

Ben Stokes was quickly underway with two fours off Goudie in the seventh over and two more in off-spinner Majid Haq's first.

Paisley-born Haq, who always impresses against Durham, conceded 12 off that over but only 14 off his next six.

Having been the dominant partner, Stokes was overtaken by Coetzer and after making 35 off 42 balls the left-hander drove medium pacer Josh Davey to cover.

Coetzer and Gordon Muchall then put on 112 in 18 overs, despite that lull between the 20th and 30th overs.

Muchall began slowly but accelerated impressively as Coetzer slowed down and both reached 50 at roughly a run-a-ball, both with five fours.

Coetzer got to 50 in the 20th over and added only 13 runs in the next ten as South Africa-born Preston Mommsen initially tied down the batsmen with his gentle spin, much as he did in his excellent performance at Emirates Durham.

His fifth over cost ten runs, however, and Coetzer began to find the boundary again as the floodgates opened with the return of Davey's medium pace.

Mustard edged Goudie to the wicketkeeper in the 35th over but his 63 took his aggregate from five games to 327 at an average of 109.

Smith made four in five balls before Drummond had him lbw, but Breese's blast left Scotland with no hope of breaking their duck in this season's competition.

They made a brisk start as Calum MacLeod, who spent two years with Warwickshire, hit three fours in reaching 16 off 11 balls before Chris Rushworth bowled him.

Ashington's Mark Wood had Davey caught behind in a good opening spell of six overs then Breese and Mitch Claydon both struck quickly to have the Scots rocking on 61 for four.

Mommsen, who made 73 not out off 54 balls at Chester-le-Street, gave Durham a few more jitters by hitting 38 off 29, putting on 68 with opener Fraser Watts before Stokes had him caught by Scott Borthwick at short cover.

At 140 for five after 25 overs, Scotland were 20 runs ahead of Durham at the same stage. But with all the pressure on Watts he holed out off Borthwick in the next over for 62 and at that stage six Durham bowlers had taken a wicket each.

Stokes, Claydon and Rushworth all grabbed a second before last man Drummond was run out. He was clearly neither bulldog nor whippet.

SCORECARD

Scotland v Durham
At The Grange.
Durham
P Mustard c MacLeod b Drummond 5
K J Coetzer not out 110
B A Stokes c McCallum b Davey 35
G J Muchall c Maiden b Goudie 63
W R Smith lbw b Drummond 4
G R Breese not out 47
Extras (b1 lb1 w8 nb4 pens 0) 14
Total 4 wkts Innings Complete (40 overs) 278
Fall: 1-9 2-88 3-200 4-209
Did Not Bat: B W Harmison, M A Wood, C
Rushworth, M E Claydon, S G Borthwick.
Bowling: Goudie 8-0-55-1. Drummond 7-0-
51-2. Berrington 2-0-16-0. Haq 8-1-38-0.
Davey 5-0-45-1. Burnett 5-0-46-0. Mommsen
5-0-25-0.

Scotland
D F Watts c K J Coetzer b Borthwick 62
C S MacLeod b Rushworth 16
J H Davey c Mustard b Wood 10
R D Berrington c W R Smith b Breese 5
N F McCallum lbw b Claydon 1
P L Mommsen c Borthwick b Stokes 38
G I Maiden c Wood b Stokes 15
C G Burnett not out 19
R M Haq c B W Harmison b Claydon 13
G Goudie c K J Coetzer b Rushworth 7
G D Drummond run out 0
Extras (lb6 w4 nb2 pens 0) 12
Total (34.3 overs) 198
Fall: 1-28 2-45 3-60 4-61 5-129 6-145 7-161
8-188 9-197
Bowling: Wood 6-0-28-1. Rushworth 4.3-0-
27-2. Breese 5-0-27-1. Claydon 6-0-37-2.
Borthwick 6-0-31-1. Stokes 7-0-42-2.
Durham beat Scotland by 80 runs