DURHAM are one step from Lord’s, where they won their first silverware in 2007, after ending Yorkshire’s dreams of the league and cup double yesterday.

After the 31-run win at Headingley Durham will have to wait until after today’s last Royal London Cup quarter-final between Kent and Gloucestershire before discovering their opponents in the semi-finals, which will be held on Thursday and Saturday next week.

Durham lost their first two games in the 50-over competition before scraping into the last eight in fourth place in their group, while Yorkshire topped their’s with six wins out of eight.

After making his first century as one-day captain Mark Stoneman said: “At first we were chopping and changing our tactics when trying to defend totals. But now we have found a good formula.”

Next to bottom in division one of the LV County Championship, Durham start a home game against titlechasing Nottinghamshire on Sunday and Stoneman said: “We should take some momentum into the game.

“The mood in the dressing room has always been good and now we want two more wins in this competition to give Gareth Breese a good send-off. He bowled fantastically well today, coming on during the powerplay to bowl at their two left-handed openers.

“Paul Collingwood was also brilliant. Hearing this week that he is to play on for another year was tremendous news for everyone. He’s a great role model and has done really well throughout this competition. Before it started we were asking ourselves whether his body would stand up to it.”

Yesterday’s match was interrupted after three overs when play was suspended for 30 minutes after a male spectator in the 3,700 crowd suffered a heart attack.

Put in to bat, Stoneman and c had reached eight without loss when umpires Nigel Cowley and Martin Bodenham decided to take the players off pending the arrival of an ambulance.

“We could see the physios working very hard on him, so it was a bit distracting,” said Stoneman.

“We had to start again but things went quite well after that and we were looking to score around 260. I was disappointed to get out with ten overs left, but seeing what happened to our innings after that we felt we could also make them struggle if we could build some pressure.

“They also got off to a good start, but getting the field set right and bowling to it made it hard for the batsmen to pierce the field.”

Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie said: “We thought it was a very gettable target, but someone had to take responsibility and make a big score. It’s hard to win when three of your top six make ducks.”