YORKSHIRE'S five-wicket Roses triumph at Liverpool yesterday revived their flagging hopes of making it through to the quarter-finals and at the same time ended Lancashire's involvement in the competition.

Now Yorkshire must win their last group match against Durham at Headingley today to stand a chance of reaching the last eight on a superior run rate.

But they cannot expect any favours from their former coach Martyn Moxon who left Headingley for the Riverside in the New Year.

Durham need to win in order to be certain of going through themselves.

Apart from one or two scares near the end, Yorkshire were in command after doing well to restrict Lancashire to 170 for nine.

The visitors eventually made it home with 20 balls to spare.

Australian Darren Lehmann picked up his second gold award in a week for a versatile all-round performance which saw him bowl six overs for only 13 runs and bag the crucial wicket of Lancashire captain John Crawley before entertaining the 4,000 crowd to a cameo knock of 35.

His batting had the added value of taming the wizardry of Sri Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan who was never allowed to pose a serious threat. In one brutal over Lehmann thumped the spinner over mid wicket for four and off-drove him for a big six.

The grittiest innings, however, came from skipper David Byas who was determined to make a decent personal contribution after castigating his team for their feeble performance against Leicestershire last week.

Byas showed signs of a welcome return to form by striking 55 off 107 balls with eight boundaries before being bowled leg stump by Joe Scuderi.

One run later Lehmann slashed at a long hop from Andy Flintoff and was caught at point and at 136 for four Yorkshire wobbled slightly, Craig White chopping John Wood into his stumps to make it 157 for five.

Michael Lumb and Gary Fellows refused to be panicked and they waited patiently for the few remaining runs to come, Lancashire being handicapped by the removal from their attack of Flintoff who pulled up with a strain in the over he dismissed Lehmann.

Winning the toss, Lancashire soon lost Mark Chilton to Chris Silverwood but Mike Atherton and Crawley batted solidly in a 110- stand for the second wicket.

But without exception, Yorkshire's attack stuck rigidly to its task and bowled so accurately that neither batsman was able to cut loose.

Having reached 60 off 97 balls, Atherton was left kicking himself when he hit a full toss from Fellows straight into the hands of Lehmann at long leg.

In the next over, Lehmann bowled Crawley for 52 when he attempted to cut and Lancashire were put into such a tight stranglehold that only 49 runs came from the last 15 overs.

l An unbeaten century from Owais Shah helped Middlesex to a 25-run victory and kept their interest in this season's Benson and Hedges Cup alive.

The 22-year-old hit a brisk 118 not out to help his team to an imposing total of 225, which always looked to be beyond southern section rivals Hampshire.

And yet Middlesex got off a terrible start, losing opener Mike Roseberry lbw for a duck - the third time he has failed to score in the Benson and Hedges Cup this season.

New Zealander Stephen Fleming was also out cheaply, adjudged leg before off the bowling of Alex Morris leaving the home side on 36 for two.

Andrew Strauss had kept the score ticking over but he top edged Shaun Udal's first ball of the day and was caught at short fine leg by Neil Johnson.

That wicket brought Shah and Paul Weekes together and they put together a century stand to help Middlesex take command of the game.

Shah reached his 50 from 66 balls, including five fours and a six off Morris to get off the mark, and they managed to chalk up the 100 partnership off 138 balls.

Weekes also looked set for a well-deserved half century when he was bowled by Dimitri Mascarenhas for 46 as he went for quick runs.

However Shah was not to be denied and he reached his own century from 99 balls.