PAUL COLLINGWOOD underlined his determination to avert Durham's one-day derailment in emphatic style yesterday.

A day after adding the limited overs job to the four-day captaincy, his 53 off 33 balls allowed his team to ease to a four-wicket win against Warwickshire at South Northumberland.

On an excellent pitch at the Gosforth ground, the visitors were on course for 300-plus while century-maker Sam Hain was sharing a third wicket stand of 143 with Tim Ambrose.

But good bowling at the end of the innings by Usman Arshad, who took three for 50, held them in check and they fell short on 292 for seven.

The departing Mark Stoneman laid the platform for the chase with a solid 56 then Scott Borthwick, tipped in some quarters to be the next player to join the exodus, built the momentum with two sixes in his 66 off 67 balls.

Collingwood had made only one when he pulled the first of his three sixes on to the roof of a house and when he repeated that shot twice in taking 20 off Chris Wright in the 40th over he had the target to 61 off ten.

The captain went for one big hit too many in the 44th, slicing a Rikki Clarke slower ball to short third man. But Michael Richardson proved equal to the task of gathering the remaining 40 runs with 14 balls to spare.

The victory halted crisis talk after three defeats in four days had been followed by the news of Stoneman joining Surrey at the end of the season, while Phil Mustard has gone with immediate effect.

Allowing Mustard to go on loan for the rest of the season to Gloucestershire, for whom he held three catches against Surrey yesterday, seemed to raise a question mark over Durham's one-day ambitions.

It did not bode well that Sunday's 170-run thrashing at Northampton was followed by Northants losing by eight wickets at Edgbaston.

But Durham overturned the formbook by looking energetic and efficient in the field, while the top six all contributed with the bat.

Stoneman played as though relieved of the twin burden of having to decide his future while shouldering the one-day captaincy. It was the first time he had passed 50 since the speculation began.

He dominated an opening stand of 67 with regular four-day opening partner Keaton Jennings, who made 23 before slicing Jeetan Patel's off spin to short third man.

In Mustard's absence, Durham handed the gloves to Stuart Poynter for the first time in a competitive match and he held the catches which earned the only two wickets in the first 41 overs.

Will Porterfield fell to Chris Rushworth in the third and Ian Bell showed his class with some elegant cover drives as he contributed 31 to a stand of 72 with Hain.

But Bell's first attempt at a big hit brought his downfall when he edged the first ball of Borthwick's second over.

Hain has looked a class player in the last two years against Durham, but has had more success in one-day than four-day cricket this season.

He relied largely on orthodox strokes in scoring his 107 off 115 balls before he played on in the 42nd when trying to run Jennings to third man.

Ambrose hit two sixes in making 86 off 89 balls then Laurie Evans cleared the rope three times in a quickfire 30, which included a drive over the sightscreen.

Warwickshire would have been a little disappointed with the addition of 53 runs between the 30th and 40th overs and the loss of wickets meant they never quite reached the required acceleration.