Yorkshire’s Twenty20 form went from bad to worse tonight as they slipped to an eight-wicket defeat with an incredible nine overs to spare against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.

The White Rose county suffered their fifth loss out of eight North Division matches after posting just 124-8 on a slow pitch against an accurate Lightning bowling attack, who were well backed up by their fielders.

Yorkshire have bemoaned their displays through the middle of a Twenty20 innings with the bat on a number of occasions already this season.

But tonight it was their top order who struggled as they reached the end of the six-over powerplay at only 23-2 following the losses of Joe Sayers and Dan Hodgson.

Lancashire opener Stephen Moore then showed the way by smashing 66 not out off 35 balls in reply, including 12 fours and a six.

Four of Lancashire’s bowlers – Kabir Ali, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tom Smith and Simon Kerrigan – all conceded 23 runs or fewer in their four-over spells, while Yorkshire’s top-scorer was Adam Lyth with 32 off 24.

New Zealander McClenaghan and fellow seamer Smith both took two wickets apiece as Yorkshire only hit six fours and five sixes.

Debutant Jack Leaning, the teenage York batsman, only made two off five balls as he chopped a wide ball onto his stumps off Kerrigan.

If Durham beat Leicestershire tomorrow night, Yorkshire’s chances of qualification are mathematically over.

But, in truth, they are goners already.

Yorkshire lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings, and were under the cosh from the moment Sayers was undone by extra bounce from Smith in the fourth over and lobbed to cover.

Lancashire’s fielding was also a big reason for their success tonight.

Stand-in captain Steven Croft took a stunning diving effort at long-on to get rid of Gary Ballance off Arron Lilley’s off-spin to leave the score at 96-6 after 16 overs, and Yorkshire’s chances of a defendable total were gone.

Moore and Smith, who made 42 off 22 balls, then raced out of the blocks in search of their fourth win from five matches as they chase a quarter-final berth.

They shared 88 in 7.4 overs for the first wicket with a barrage of boundaries before Azeem Rafiq struck twice in three balls to get Smith and Ashwell Prince, the latter superbly caught one-handed at cover by Lyth.

Five of Yorkshire’s seven-man attack all went at a rate north of ten runs per over.

Liam Plunkett went for 17 in his only over and Leaning 18 off his over, which proved to be the last of the match.

Moore completed the win with a straight six towards the new pavilion.

All the puns were trotted out when the ground was hit by a 20-minute power cut before the start of the match.

Two floodlights, the scoreboard and the power in the dressing rooms and media centre were affected at the Statham End of the ground.

But would you believe it, Jimmy Anderson sorted it out. That is the name of the Red Rose county’s trusty electrician.

The lights went out on Yorkshire’s performance not long afterwards.

They still have two matches remaining, the first of those is against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Friday night.

They then travel to Grace Road to face Leicestershire on Sunday.