Yorkshire Phoenix may be holding a midnight feast tonight - or just making do with a quiet room service at the team hotel.

If they beat Kent Spitfires under the Canterbury floodlights this evening and at the same time Gloucestershire Gladiators get eaten up by Sussex Sharks at Hove, then Yorkshire will be crowned Champions of the Norwich Union National League.

But if both Yorkshire and Gloucestershire win, then Yorkshire face an agonising wait until Sunday, September 17, to see if the Gladiators steal the show by defeating Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Bristol in their final match.

It will be a strange feeling if Yorkshire have to wait until then to know their fate because their season will already be over, today's encounter bringing the curtain down on their coloured-clothing programme.

A straight win would have been enough for Yorkshire at Canterbury if Lancashire Lightning had overpowered Gloucestershire at Bristol last night, but the Benson and Hedges Cup and NatWest Trophy winners cantered home and now have their sights firmly set on a remarkable treble.

Yorkshire are strengthened by the return to their line-up from the Test match duty of opening batsman Michael Vaughan.

However, the Oval Test heroes Darren Gough and Craig White have been denied permission to play for their county side by the England regime.

Victory for Yorkshire will give them the double over Kent, who they beat by 23 runs at Headingley in mid-June when White achieved the hat-trick.

It would also mean they round off their season with a sixth consecutive win, but they really need Gloucestershire to lose tonight for an immediate start to the celebrations.

Yorkshire Phoenix (v Kent Spitfires): Vaughan, Byas, McGrath, Lehmann, Widdup, Blakey, Hamilton, Fellows, Fisher, Silverwood, Hoggard.

Norwich Union NCL

Division One

Yorkshire Phoenix 15 9 6 0 0 36

Gloucestershire Gl 14 8 5 0 1 34

Northamptonshire St 15 8 7 0 0 32

Somerset Sabres 14 7 6 0 1 30 Worcestershire R 14 6 6 0 2 28

Sussex Sharks 14 5 6 1 2 26

Leicestershire Foxes 14 5 6 2 1 26

Kent Spitfires 14 5 7 0 2 24

Lancashire Lightning 14 4 8 1 1 20

Today's games

Norwich Union NCL

Division One

Canterbury: Kent Spitfires v Yorkshire Phoenix (4.10), Hove: Sussex Sharks v Gloucestershire Gladiators (4.10).

PPP healthcare County Championship

Division Two

Lord's: Middlesex v Warwickshire