As it stands there is only one name on the Royal London One-Day Cup – and man of the moment Mark Stoneman is determined to keep it that way.

Last September Durham claimed just their second ever major limited-overs title as they beat Warwickshire by three wickets to lift the inaugural Royal London One-Day Cup.

One of the heroes that day was Stoneham as he top-scored with 52, the 28-year-old finishing as the competition’s sixth-highest run scorer as he amassed 435 at an average of 88.80.

And Stoneham has shown no signs of slowing down this season either, recording Durham’s second highest Twenty20 score of 89 not out in victory over Leicestershire at the beginning of the month just days after scoring 131 in a four-day clash with Yorkshire.

Jon Lewis will be hoping Stoneman carries that momentum over for a little while yet as Durham not only bid to reach the Blast knockout stages, but also kickstart the defence of their Royal London One-Day Cup in style.

They travel to Northampton first up on Saturday July 25 and momentum is certainly the key word for Stoneman as he aims to keep the good times rolling at one of England’s biggest overachievers.

“Last year’s Royal London One-Day Cup was fantastic to be a part of - and obviously to be successful in too,” he said.

“At times in the group stages it looked like we might not qualify as we had to win our last three or four games to escape our group and we did that and that set us up nicely for the rest of the campaign.

“We managed to get so much momentum off the back of those matches and we carried that all the way over to the final and it really paid off.

“So momentum is key because it can be so tight in the competition so it is important that we get off to a good start and carry that over.

“We have been doing our usual thing in the Twenty20 of winning a couple of games and then losing the next couple and therefore struggling to get any consistency.

“It’s important we get off to a good start because we are the one name on that trophy so far and we want to keep it that way.”

Stoneman wasn’t the only one to shine in last season’s Royal London One-Day Cup showpiece, with Ben Stokes’ unbeaten 38 proving crucial in the victory.

Stokes also chipped in with a mammoth knock of 164 in Durham’s semi-final victory over Nottinghamshire, and Stoneman admits the all-rounder will be missed as he bids to help England regain the Ashes.

“We will be without a few Mark Wood and Ben Stokes for a while it would seem as they are with England, and Gareth Breese is obviously no longer with us,” he added.

“We have good strength in depth and have some good young guys who are ready to step up, but guys like Mark and Ben will still be missed.

“Especially Ben, he was in superb form last year in the Royal London One-Day Cup and his knock against Nottinghamshire is probably one of the best you will ever see so hopefully he can return and we can still be in the mix and he can help us get our hands back on the trophy.”

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