War of the Roses throws up a threat in front of mammoth Old Trafford crowd

Liam Livingstone hit a stunning 79 off 37 balls as Lancashire beat Roses rivals Yorkshire in a dramatic last-ball Vitality Blast finish

^{Toby Lester celebrates winning a dramatic Roses derby in front of more than 22,000 fans}

Old Trafford: Lancashire Lightning 176-2, Yorkshire Vikings 175-4 - Lancashire Lightning won by one run (match reduced to 14 overs-a-side)

Scorecard

Liam Livingstone hit a stunning 79 off 37 balls as Lancashire beat Roses rivals Yorkshire in a dramatic last-ball Vitality Blast finish.

The Red Rose captain hit six sixes in 176 for two from just 14 overs at Emirates Old Trafford after the match was reduced by rain.

England Test captain Joe Root made an unbeaten 51 off just 22 balls, and Adam Lyth a brilliant 60 from 26 as Yorkshire went close.

They needed 17 from the final over, with young seamer Toby Lester keeping them to 15 in a one-run win to leave the Lightning top of the North Group with five wins from six.

A crowd of 22,515 – a record for a Blast game outside of London and Finals Day – packed in for this star-studded clash of the old rivals, with Jos Buttler available for Lancashire.

In all, there were 14 players with international experience involved.

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Yorkshire, having won the toss, should have had Livingstone in the first over when he skied a David Willey delivery, only for Kane Williamson, Steve Patterson and Lyth to leave it to each other.

The Lancashire captain then smashed two consecutive sixes off Tim Bresnan in the second over.

Buttler joined the fun in the third over, hitting Willey for six onto the Yorkshire team balcony. 

Buttler, however, was run out for 16 later in the over after a mix-up with Livingstone left him short at the bowler's end, with Liam Plunkett hitting the stumps.

Livingstone brought up his 50 off 26 balls with a huge six off Adil Rashid, his fourth maximum, and added two more from Azeem Rafiq in the ninth over to bring up Lancashire's 100.

Root’s stunning diving catch at mid-off helped Patterson get rid of Livingstone shortly afterwards before Arron Lilley and Jordan Clark continued the onslaught, both hitting sixes off Rashid in the 11th over.

The leg-spinner – who has been tipped for an England Test recall – conceding 44 from his three overs.

Lilley finished on 42 off just 20 balls, while Clark added 34 from 16.

Lyth punished Lester's second over, hitting three sixes and a four as Yorkshire made 46 off their powerplay. Lyth reached his half-century off just 20 balls.

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Livingstone had a hand in his dismissal, caught on the boundary as he tried to launch Matthew Parkinson into the stands for what would have been his seventh six.

And the young leg-spinner struck in his next over as Willey was stumped by Buttler for 20 as Yorkshire's chase began to falter (90 for two in the ninth).

Plunkett and Root, however, kept the White Rose in it, with Plunkett hitting 19 off nine before he was bowled by Clark in the 12th.

Bresnan made 17 from nine before he was caught on the boundary in the penultimate over by Lilley off the bowling of James Faulkner.

It left Yorkshire needing 17 from the final over bowled by Lester, playing just his fourth Lancashire T20 game. 

Three boundaries from Root reduced that to five from three balls, and a single meant four to win off the last. But Lester kept his cool, with Williamson only managing two from the last as Yorkshire finished on 175 for four.

Report courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network