Michael Vaughan shed his England sweater yesterday, put on a Yorkshire one and marched out to play a dazzling innings which helped defeat Lancashire by three wickets and take his side through to the semi-finals of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

Now they meet holders Gloucestershire at Bristol on July 17 and if they come through they will have made it to Lord's without having had a home tie in the competition this season.

The England captain thrashed an unbeaten 116 off 119 balls with 11 fours and four magnificent sixes to save what had appeared to be a lost cause.

Yorkshire were staring down the barrel at 86-4 as they chased a mammoth target of 287 but Darren Lehmann then joined Vaughan in a sensational stand of 149 in 24 overs to turn this dramatic Roses clash on its head.

For once Lehmann was prepared to play the lesser role while Vaughan launched into some stunning strokes without ever throwing caution to the wind and it was just beginning to seem as if the fifth-wicket pair would see Yorkshire home themselves when Lehmann made room to cut at Sajid Mahmood to be brilliantly caught behind by Warren Hegg for 62 from 74 deliveries.

Yorkshire were now 234-5 with eight overs remaining and Vaughan responded by driving Mahmood over long off, Stuart Law holding the ball one-handed as he took it over the rope.

Richard Blakey cut James Anderson to Mark Chilton at backward point, yet there was no stopping Vaughan, who picked up James Anderson and hit him for six over mid-wicket to take him to 99 and then stole a single to go to the second one-day century of his career off 98 balls with nine fours and three sixes.

There was still plenty of drama to unfold because after Vaughan had thumped Mahmood over long on for his fourth six, Richard Dawson was bowled by Anderson to make it 269-7.

Yorkshire, now well up with the required rate, could afford to take things more sedately and the winning run came from a leg bye to Bresnan with 14 balls still left.

Vaughan was cheered to the echo as he made his way back to the pavilion to pick up the man-of-the-match gold award and even the Lancashire faithful wrenched themselves from their seats to give him a standing ovation.

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, June 17, 2004