New T20, same story for Durham

This is a game which projects little-known trundlers like Steffan Piolet into star performers and it was his two for 19 in four overs which throttled Durham after a decent start.

Put in by reigning northern group champions Warwickshire, Phil Mustard and Gordon Muchall had 55 on the board after six overs. But a total of 151 for three proved inadequate as the visitors eased home by five wickets with 11 balls to spare.

Durham thrashed them by an innings last week in proper cricket, but had already had a taste of the Bears' one-day growl when a total of 286 for three in the CB 40 League was easily surpassed.

Ireland captain Will Porterfield did the damage then in an innings of 80 and this time he had the luxury of going to the crease in the second over after Neil Carter had already hit two sixes.

Although he received little support, Porterfield kept Warwickshire ahead of the clock as he raced to 50 off 30 balls and was on 83 when he was run out with the scores level.

Piolet, 22, is a Sussex reject who has played only three first-class games, two of them against Durham University. He and Darren Maddy bowl at just the right pace for this sort of jamboree, while the likes of Graham Onions are too easily flipped, shovelled or edged to the boundary.

Warwickshire opened up with left-armer Carter, playing his first match of the season after injury, and Mustard swivelled to pull the fourth ball to long leg for four as nine came off the over.

Mustard had reached 18 when a Keith Barker no-ball presented him with a free hit at the next delivery, which was a high full toss outside leg stump. It struck him in the orchestra stalls, although there was nothing orchestral about the cacophonous music which accompanied every boundary.

There were three of those in succession in the next over as Muchall elegantly lofted Andrew Miller for a straight four and six with a more rustic swipe to cow corner inbetween.

Warwickshire have said goodbye to Mohammad Yousuf, at least for now, and brought in former New Zealand Test off-spinner Jeetan Patel.

He tightened things up when coming on for the seventh over but wasn't helped by Carter allowing a Mustard sweep through his legs for four.

With Piolet coming on at the other end, only seven runs came off the next 11 balls before Mustard smashed Patel over mid-wicket for a big six.

Piolet aimed his dibbly-dobblers at the block hole and conceded only five runs in his first two overs, while having Muchall caught at long-off for 35, made off 27 balls.

In Piolet's next over Mustard tried to hit him over long-on and skied a catch to mid-off, having made 38 off 39 balls. He will hope to improve on that strike rate as the tournament unfolds.

Ian Blackwell finally got hold of Piolet, his huge blow over mid-wicket being intercepted by a departing rental van. But after taking a single the last three balls of the over were dot balls to Paul Collingwood.

Blackwell hit another six to the same area off Patel, but this time it was intercepted by Porterfield, who threw the ball back into play after stumbling over the line. He tried to claim he didn't know whether he had carried the ball over, but it was clear that he had.

This was clearly no situation for Collingwood to relocate his form and after making seven off ten balls he drove Maddy to long-on.

That brought in David Miller in the 16th over, giving the South African newcomer no time to settle in.

He was keen to scamper between the wickets and had to be sent scurrying back twice by his less athletic partner.

Blackwell appeared to be running out of gunpowder as well as puff as he missed a slow full toss from Carter and twice miscued as only three came off the 19th over.

Miller managed a four wide of long-on in the final over to finish on 15 not out, with Blackwell unbeaten on 46 off 32 balls.

Carter began the reply by flipping Onions over fine leg for six in the first over then did something similar to Chris Rushworth before lobbing an attempted reverse paddle to short third man.

Carter's 18 off eight balls had given Warwickshire the necessary momentum and Porterfield maintained it, driving Mitch Claydon for six over long-on to take the total to 60 after six overs.

Claydon's over cost 13 and Onions had gone for 28 in three, so even allowing for the fielding restrictions it showed that pace is not the answer.

Collingwood's first over cost only five and judging by the time it took the third umpire to decide Porterfield hadn't been stumped on 35 it must have been close. Or was he under orders to boost the X factor by building tension?

Any chance of a tense finish was rapidly receding when Porterfield drove Collingwood wide of long-off for six, just evading Claydon.

Jim Troughton also cleared the rope off Gareth Breese, who then had him caught at long-on to add to the scalp of opener Varun Copra, who top-edged a sweep to short fine leg.

Rather than bowl himself, Dale Benkenstein brought on Liam Plunkett and recalled Claydon for the closing overs. Although Plunkett had Maddy caught at long-on the runs continued to flow and there were two overs left when Porterfield set off for the winning single.

Rikki Clarke sent him back but drove the first ball of the next over from Claydon past mid-off for four.

CRICKET fans can enjoy a Father's Day treat thanks to Durham CCC and The Northern Echo.

Sunday, June 19 sees Durham entertain Yorkshire on day two of their LV County Championship match at Emirates Durham ICG, and if you purchase a full-priced ticket for the match you can get another ticket FREE.

To take advantage of this offer, simply fill in the voucher that was printed in The Northern Echo on Tuesday, May 31 and call the box office on 0844 4994466. You will have to bring a copy of the voucher along with you on matchday.

If you need another copy of the May 31 newspaper, you can purchase one by calling 01274 705248.