BEN Stokes yesterday became the first player to score 150 for Durham in a one-day match, only to find himself on the losing side.

Although Durham amassed 286 for three against Warwickshire at Edgbaston the hosts showed why they are the CB 40 League holders as they cruised to a seven-wicket win with 21 balls to spare.

Twenty20 skills were brought to bear by left-handed Ireland captain Will Porterfield as he and fellow opener Varun Chopra scorched to 100 in 11 overs.

This made the difference as Durham, who were put in, laboured to 29 for two in the seventh over and with Stokes and Gordon Muchall having to rebuild they did not reach 100 until the 21st over.

Stokes, who is not 20 until next month, hammered seven sixes in scoring 150 not out off 113 balls.

He went past Durham’s previous one-day record of 145 with two successive sixes off left-arm seamer Keith Barker in the final over.

The first was an astonishing shot as he had stepped to the leg side and had to adjust before flat-batting the ball over long-on. Rikki Clarke got a hand on the ball just above his head but it was travelling so hard he couldn’t stop it.

The next ball was driven high over long-off to beat the record, which was set by John Morris in a Benson & Hedges Cup tie at Leicester in 1996.

That was a 50-over game and the previous highest 40-over score was 131 by Wayne Larkins in 1994.

It was not all brutal hitting from Stokes as he built his innings very sensibly, knocking the ball around for singles when necessary. His first 50 came off 50 balls, his second off 38 and his third off 25.

The only clear chance he gave was on 87, when Darren Maddy put down a return catch. Stokes celebrated with a reverse sweep for six off leftarm spinner Paul Best.

Durham did not register any one-day centuries last season, but this was the second in successive games following Kyle Coetzer’s 110 not out in Edinburgh.

This time he drove to cover for seven to bring in Stokes in the fifth over and when Phil Mustard’s one-day struggles continued with a lofted a catch to mid-off Durham were 29 for two.

Stokes then shared a stand of 157 in 24 overs with Muchall, who made his fifth half-century in six innings in this competition.

When he drove a catch to long-on to fall for 65 one-day skipper Dale Benkenstein increased the tempo with an unbeaten 42 off 27 balls.

The unbroken stand was worth 100 in nine overs but by almost matching that at the start of their reply Warwickshire were able to cruise to victory.

After winning four of their previous five CB 40 games Durham went into the match joint top of the group. But this was only the second time they have been put under pressure, and having lost to Northants on the other occasion they had no answer to the holders’ onslaught.

Losing Chris Rushworth with a hand injury in prematch fielding practice might not have helped, but after drafting in Callum Thorp it was strange that Durham should open the bowling with Will Smith’s off spin.

His first two balls yielded seven runs, and although three overs for 23 was tidy enough in the context of what followed, the home openers had been allowed an easy start.

Ben Harmison was left out in order to blood academy product Ben Raine, while Smith was retained at the expense of Ian Blackwell, who has a sore back.

Chopra pulled Mitch Claydon for six in the third over but when he went for another big hit off the same bowler his bat flew from his hands in the direction of square leg.

It was just about the only time the openers failed to connect and after putting on 189 against Leicestershire last week they reached 144 before Porterfield fell to the first ball of the 18th over.

After conceding 38 off his opening four overs, Claydon had returned for another go and the Irishman tried to flip him over short fine leg, but failed to clear Gareth Breese.

In his next over Claydon had Jim Troughton caught at mid-on by Raine, but that merely brought in Mohammad Yousuf with 20 overs left to score 130 runs.

The run rate slowed as he played himself in and Durham’s hopes rose further when Chopra was lbw for 83 when trying to sweep Breese.

After passing 1,000 runs in all competitions this season, Chopra made it plain that he disagreed with the umpire’s decision.

That was as good as it got for Durham, however, as oneday expert Maddy joined Yousuf and they skilfully kept the score ticking over. Once Scott Borthwick had been pulled for three fours in his last over, the 29th, there was little doubt that Warwickshire would win.

Benkenstein, who had been doubtful because of a viral infection, opted not to bowl and turned to Coetzer for the 30th over, followed by Thorp, whose one earlier over cost 11 runs.

Thorp was hit for three sixes in the 33rd over, Yousuf reaching 50 off 44 balls and going on to finish unbeaten on 74, with Maddy on 44.

SCORECARD

Warwickshire v Durham
At Edgbaston.
Durham
P Mustard c Clarke b Miller 13
K J Coetzer c Piolet b Miller 7
B A Stokes not out 150
G J Muchall c Clarke b Maddy 65
D M Benkenstein not out 42
Extras (w3 nb6 pens 0) 9
Total 3 wkts (40 overs) 286
Fall: 1-22 2-29 3-186
Did Not Bat: W R Smith, G R Breese, S G
Borthwick, B A Raine, M E Claydon, C D
Thorp.
Bowling: Miller 7-0-31-2. Barker 8-0-74-0.
Clarke 4-0-27-0. Piolet 7-0-45-0. Best 8-0-
54-0. Maddy 6-0-55-1.

Warwickshire
V Chopra lbw b Breese .83
W T Porterfield c Breese b Claydon 80
J O Troughton c Raine b Claydon . 1
Mohammad Yousuf not out 74
D L Maddy not out .44
Extras (lb3 w3 pens 0) . 6
Total 3 wkts (36.3 overs)288
Fall: 1-144 2-157 3-179
Did Not Bat: T R Ambrose, R Clarke, K H D
Barker, S A Piolet, P M Best, A S Miller.
Bowling: Claydon 7.3-0-68-2. W R Smith 3-
0-23-0. Thorp 3-0-38-0. Borthwick 8-0-65-
0. Breese 8-0-49-1. Stokes 5-0-31-0. K J Coetzer
2-0-11-0.
Warwickshire beat Durham by 7 wkts

SCORECARD

Worcestershire v Durham
At New Road.
Overnight: Durham 587-7 dec (G J Muchall
175, I D Blackwell 134, PMustard 101, S G
Borthwick 67 no). Worcestershire 217 (S J
Harmison 4-67)and 271-5 (M M Ali 63, V S
Solanki 58).
Worcestershire Second Innings
G M Andrew c Stokes b Borthwick 50
B J Scott c Stokes b S J Harmison 73
D G Wright c & b Borthwick 0
R A Jones run out 0
A Richardson not out 12
A Shankar absent 0
Extras (b8 lb2 w2 nb2 pens 0) 14
Total (87.3 overs) 345
Fall: 1-50 2-99 3-163 4-189 5-216 6-290 7-
290 8-291 9-345
Bowling: Thorp 16-3-54-0. S J Harmison
18.3-3-84-3. Blackwell 29-11-73-2. Brathwaite
6-0-36-0. Borthwick 12-0-53-2. Stokes
5-0-33-1. W R Smith 1-0-2-0.
Durham (24pts) beat Worcestershire
(3pts) by an innings and 25 runs