IF Yorkshire fail to qualify for the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast, at least they can say they put a spanner in the works of their old enemy.

The Vikings won their second North Group game in eight at Headingley last night as their bowlers expertly defended what looked like being a below par 141-7 from 18 overs to win by five runs after early evening rain.

Rooted to the bottom of the table before this clash, Yorkshire ended a run of three-successive Roses defeats by bowling the visitors out for 136.

And they have now beaten Lancashire in all three formats this summer.

Both sides lost wickets at regular intervals, but thankfully it cost the defending champions more in front of a 15,400 crowd.

No Yorkshire batsman made it to 30 in decent batting conditions before the Lightning slipped to 117-8 in the 16th over.

They needed 20 off the last two overs and 12 off the last, but the defending champions have now only won three of nine.

Steve Patterson claimed 3-23 from 3.4 overs, while Will Rhodes, Karl Carver and Tim Bresnan all took two wickets apiece.

Adam Lyth took three catches, all on the boundary edge, as Yorkshire won with two balls to spare.

Lyth pulled successive sixes off Jordan Clark as 21 came off the second over of the match, and his 23 was followed with Kane Williamson’s 28, 29 for Jack Leaning and an unbeaten 24 for Rhodes.

But the hosts went without a boundary from the fifth ball of the second over to the fourth ball of the eighth over.

Seamers Nathan Buck and George Edwards claimed three wickets and two wickets respectively for Lancashire.

Yorkshire were hurt by losing openers Lyth and Alex Lees within four balls of the fourth over as their innings lost the early momentum.

After reaching halfway at 68-2, they looked like getting it back through New Zealand overseas star Williamson, playing his 100th 20-over match.

He hit three fours in the eleventh and 12th overs, but he was bowled by a quicker ball from Stephen Parry.

After the early sixes from Lyth, it was a disappointment that only one more six was hit in the innings, by Leaning over long-on off Parry’s left-arm spin.

But the game turned thanks to an impressive bowling and fielding performance.

Lyth and Leaning took two brilliant catches running towards long-leg as Lancashire slipped to 26-2 in the fifth over of their chase, with Patterson and Rhodes striking.

The Lyth catch, ending with a full-length dive to hold on to a swirler, was particularly special.

And when Azeem Rafiq bowled Karl Brown, Yorkshire had hope.

Liam Livingstone hit three-successive sixes off Carver in the 11th over, but he followed Steven Croft back to the pavilion in successive balls to make it 87-5.

From there, Lancashire were fighting an uphill battle as their batsmen were a little too aggressive.

They got the target down to six off three balls, but Patterson completed the job by getting Parry caught behind.

Yorkshire host Middlesex in the Championship at Scarborough tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Headingley will host England’s first one-day international against South Africa next year on Wednesday, May 24.

Yorkshire will also welcome the West Indies for the second Test of their three-match series between August 25-29.