Ambrose and Bell see off Middlesex

Ian Bell strokes the ball through the off side en route to an unbeaten 60

A one-day county record for Tim Ambrose and a polished performance by Ian Bell prior to his return to England duty swept Warwickshire to a six-wicket victory over Middlesex in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Wicketkeeper Ambrose completed seven dismissals – five catches and two stumpings – as Middlesex were bowled out for 165 despite a defiant 62 from Eoin Morgan.

Then Bell made an unbeaten 60 from 82 balls at Edgbaston as the home side posted their second win in Group B.

Neil Carter took three wickets at the end of the Middlesex innings and gave Warwickshire a flying start with two sixes in one Danny Evans overs and eight fours in his 56 from 44 balls.

The left hander’s second half-century in three one-day innings this season ended when he flailed a short ball from Steven Finn to extra cover.

Warwickshire also lost Jonathan Trott and Jim Troughton, both run out by Nick Compton from point, but Bell made the most of an extra innings before travelling north to join the England Test squad in Durham.

Putting on 66 with Ambrose, who made 22, Bell hit eight fours to wrap up victory with 14.2 overs to spare.

Earlier, Middlesex’s Morgan was cast in a totally different role a day after scoring 161 against Kent.

Having cruised to his century in 93 balls at Canterbury, he needed two more deliveries to compile a face-saving fifty here.

The left-hander, recently called up to the England one-day squad, was eventually last out, finding Bell at midwicket after hitting six fours from 110 balls.

Eoin Morgan salvaged Middlesex's innings with a gutsy 62, but their total of 165 was easily surpassed by Warwickshire

Morgan’s rescue mission initially lifted Middlesex from 13 for three after a trio of catches by Ambrose – the first to claim Compton from Chris Woakes’ third ball and the next two as Boyd Rankin accounted for Owais Shah and Phillip Hughes.

Shah was dismissed for a duck for the second time in 24 hours on his return from the Indian Premier League with Delhi Daredevils.

With the ball moving around for Woakes and Rankin – their 13 overs together cost only 33 runs – Morgan and Dawid Malan had to work hard to rebuild the innings courtesy of a stand of 79.

Malan could have been run out on 28 but pulled Rikki Clarke for six and also struck six boundaries before Warwickshire achieved their next breakthrough through the spinners.

Malan and Neil Dexter, the latter trying to pad the ball away, were both stumped off Botha, who then held a good catch when Ben Scott paddled Jeetan Patel to backward square-leg.

Shaun Udal edged to Ambrose on the return of paceman Carter but Chris Silverwood hit five fours in a valuable 26 before becoming the last of the wicketkeeper’s victims.

Carter eventually removed Silverwood and Finn in successive balls and Patel closed the innings with Morgan’s dismissal in the 48th over.