Yorkshire's first venture into Twenty20 Cup cricket broke the drought on Saturday when their Phoenix side beat Derbyshire Scorpions by 45 runs in an entertaining match which attracted 5,342 fans despite the 10.30am start.

It was the Tykes' first win against county opposition in any match since April 27 and it put them in exactly the right frame of mind to take another step towards the Twenty20 semi-finals by beating Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road later today (5.30pm).

Although Derbyshire threatened for a while to overhaul a challenging Yorkshire score of 186-5, they were torn apart following the dismissal of man-of-the-match Michael Di Venuto and three of their last four wickets fell to electrifying run outs.

The only disappointment for jubilant Yorkshire was that their new overseas signing, Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, was out first ball after dashing half way round the world to make it to Headingley in time for the match.

Yorkshire skipper Matthew Wood said that his players had all enjoyed their first taste of Twenty20 cricket.

"We soon got the feel of it and it was interesting, fast and good to play in," he said.

"It is a very intense atmosphere out there and you have to be on your toes throughout the game. It is difficult to know exactly what a good score is but I think our 186 will probably turn out to be above average."

Wood also revealed that he had almost dropped himself for the match and had only decided at the last minute that it would be in the team's best interests for him to play.

"We were choosing from a squad of 13 which covered all options and no-one is guaranteed a place in this competition. I have been under pressure because of poor one day form but I have not felt out of nick and in the end I thought it was right to go into the game," said Wood.

Wood's decision was justified because he opened the innings and racked up 19 off only 13 balls with three fours before being run out by Andrew Gait's brilliant throw from the cover point boundary.

Fleming had gone lbw to the third ball of the match from Dominic Cork but Indian Yuvraj Singh helped Wood put on 40 in four overs and was then joined by fellow left-hander Michael Lumb in a 58 stand in six overs.

Yuvraj enjoyed his best form since joining Yorkshire, striking six boundaries in his 44 from 41 deliveries, but the cleanest hitting came from Lumb who blasted three sixes and four fours while making 42 from only 22 balls.

Di Venuto's spin brought him three for 19 in his maximum four overs and stopped Yorkshire's total getting completely out of hand and the Australian left-hander then shone with the bat in piling up 67 in 45 balls with 11 boundaries, most of which came from orthodox strokes.

Chris Silverwood soaked up most of the punishment from Di Venuto, being hit for two boundaries in each of his three overs, and the paceman was the only one of Yorkshire's six bowlers not to claim a wicket.

Updated: 11:25 Monday, June 16, 2003