Durham captain Mark Stoneman hailed "a fairytale ending" to Gareth Breese's career after the all-rounder hit the winning runs to beat Warwickshire in the Royal London Cup final.

Breese, who has been involved in the Durham first team since 2004, will retire at the end of the season and he capped his final one-day match with an excellent display at Lord's.

The 38-year-old took three wickets, two catches and hit a much-needed 15 not out - including the boundary that clinched the trophy - as Durham sealed a nervy three-wicket win.

"It's a fairytale sign-off for him," Stoneman said.

"He's been a great guy on the field and off the field, he's been outstanding with his contributions for Durham.

"For him to go out on a high, hitting the winning runs in a Lord's final - you couldn't script it any better really."

Breese was left unbeaten at the close alongside Ben Stokes, who also played a major role in his side's success with 38 runs and two wickets.

"It was brilliant," Stokes said.

"I told Breesey I wanted to be in there with him at the end although he meant to leave that last ball and it still went for four.

"He thoroughly deserved to be the man who hit the winning runs for everything he's done and achieved for Durham."

Durham looked to be in control of the contest having won the toss and taken full advantage of the conditions to bowl Warwickshire out for 165.

Their chase was never straightforward, however, as Jeetan Patel took four for 25 to keep the contest very much alive.

"It was tense all the way through - every time we seemed to get on top they picked up a wicket," Stokes said.

"I just tried to stay as calm as possible and make sure I was there at the end."

Stoneman added: "I got a bit twitchy when we were six or seven down.

"We felt a good partnership would see us home but then we lost Colly (Paul Collingwood) and it got a bit tense."

Stoneman, who had earlier hit 52 before falling lbw to Patel, is in his first full season as Durham's limited-overs captain.

The opener was one of five players in the line-up at Lord's to have been born in the north-east and Stokes believes that local core has underpinned the team's success.

"I love coming to play for Durham, I've enjoyed every single game I've played and to walk away as champions is fantastic," Stokes said.

"We've been around each other for a number of years now - we know how everyone plays cricket and everyone's personality.

"Everyone fits into the changing room - we're not just colleagues, we're mates as well and that goes a long way to how successful we've been this year."

Defeat for Warwickshire ended the club's dreams of a one-day double having already won the T20 Blast last month but the club sit second in LV= County Championship Division One behind champions Yorkshire with one game to play.

"There's disappointment but I don't think they feel like losers sat in the changing room now," said captain Varun Chopra.

"Hopefully we'll have come in the top two in all three forms after next week and that shows how good we are and what a good squad we have."