SENSATIONAL bowling by Mark Wood saw him upstage Yorkshire's Test trio as Durham won the NatWest T20 Blast semi-final at Edgbaston by seven runs.

After a clear moral victory against Joe Root, he removed Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance in the first three balls of the crucial 12th over.

Wood then came back for the 19th and bowled both Liam Plunkett and Tim Bresnan to finish with four 25 after conceding 12 off his first over.

The first ball of the 12th over was a fast yorker which skittled Bairstow, whereupon Paul Collingwood positioned himself at wide leg slip for Ballance and dived to his left to hold a brilliant catch.

It was a superb piece of cricket, which deserved to win the match, and Yorkshire finished on 149 for nine in reply to 156 for six. Chris Rushworth also played a huge part with three for 19.

Durham's innings, underpinned by 56 off 36 balls from Ben Stokes, was only five short of Northants' total in winning the first semi-final against Nottinghamshire by eight runs.

Durham weren't helped by two rain breaks in their innings, particularly the second, after which they scored 34 off the final 29 balls.

Collingwood chose to bat and Durham included Jack Burnham at the expense of Gordon Muchall, who was denied a farewell appearance. There is no room for sentiment with a trophy at stake.

Only 13 runs came off the first three overs before Mark Stoneman pulled Bresnan for four then lofted the next two balls over mid-on.

Bresnan went round the wicket and Stoneman planted him over mid-off for the fourth boundary of the over.

But the introduction of Azeem Rafiq's off-spin made the breakthrough as Keaton Jennings advanced to meet a ball which drifted past him, giving Bairstow a simple stumping.

That brought in Stokes at 31 for one and after pulling Plunkett for his first boundary he lost Stoneman in the Teessider's second over.

After making 25 Stoneman missed a drive and was bowled, bringing in Michael Richardson.

In the over before the first rain break, the eighth, Stokes hit David Willey for six behind square with not so much a pull as a short-arm flip.

On the resumption he swept Adil Rashid for four then lifted him wide of long-on for six as 15 came off the over, making it 75 for two after ten.

Richardson should have been stumped off Root when he had made three off nine balls, then capitalised impressively.

He drove a full toss over long-on for six in Root's second over and Stokes followed up with a huge blow over mid-wicket.

Reverse sweeps and deft late cuts helped Richardson to 29 off 23 balls before he was lbw trying to work Rashid to leg, ending a stand of 72 in seven overs.

It was a tall order for Burnham going in 119 for three in the 15th and he took time to settle, increasing the pressure on Stokes.

After driving Rafiq for a straight four off the first ball of the 17th he sat back to force the next through the off side and hit it straight to extra cover.

Burnham managed the only two blows of substance thereafter, with two almighty skiers off Plunkett.

Root lost the first in the sun – putting in a brief appearance – at deep square leg, but the ball easily cleared the rope. The next didn't, being brilliantly kept in by Lyth at long-on.

Ryan Pringle made ten before missing a straight full toss as Plunkett finished with 4-0-22-2, and Durham took only two off the final over, bowled by Bresnan.

Burnham swished and missed at the first two balls, then top-edged a catch to Bairstow to depart for 17. The fourth was also a dot ball before Collingwood and Usman Arshad gathered a single each.

Yorkshire's reply got off to flier when Adam Lyth pulled Wood for six and drove him wide of mid-on for four in the second over.

But after Willey miscued Rushworth to extra cover, Wood showed his prowess when confronting Root.

He beat the England star with three successive balls, two of them absolute snorters with the second one passing narrowly over the stumps.

Root got off the mark off the last ball of the over then, surprisingly, resorted to slogging against Rushworth. He got away with one skied, sliced shot before lobbing a bouncer to square leg to depart for seven.

With 13 coming off the sixth over, bowled by Arshad, 15 off the eighth, by Scott Borthwick, and 13 off the ninth, by Pringle, Yorkshire were gaining control.

But a stand of 45 ended when Alex Lees shovelled a catch to cow corner off Borthwick.

Stokes ran in to cling on and signalled to his team-mates to forgo the celebrations and get on with it.

Lyth reached 50 off 31 balls, but after Wood had turned the game the left-hander opener was under pressure. He cut Rushworth to backward point to depart 64, made off 42 balls, and Wood virtually finished it in the 19th over.