YORKSHIRE won for the fourth match running by chasing 242 to beat battling Northamptonshire by four wickets at Emerald Headingley and advance to the Royal London one-day Cup knockout stages.

The Vikings missed out on a home tie in next Thursday’s semi-final eliminator courtesy of net run-rate, with them failing to achieve their target in 41 overs. And they will face Essex at Chelmsford.

That was down to a Northants side who caused problems with spin as Yorkshire attempted to recover from 14-2.

They slipped to 134-5 in the 33rd over to increase tensions knowing a defeat would eliminate them, with David Willey gone for 71.

But Gary Ballance and Jonny Tattersall hit superb fifties and shared a sixth-wicket stand of 87 inside 14 overs.

Ballance hit 66 off 61 balls and Tattersall finished 52 not out off 51 balls. The win was secured with an over remaining.

Earlier, the already eliminated visitors fell to 101-6 having elected to bat as Willey and Tim Bresnan struck twice. But some valuable lower order contributions elevated them to 241 all out.

Willey finished with 3-24 from 9.5 overs, while Bresnan, Matthew Fisher and Adil Rashid all struck twice.

Charlie Thurston, the Steelbacks 21-year-old debutant, top-scored with a fluent 53, while Graeme White hit 41 not out.

Brett Hutton made 30 and Rory Kleinveldt added 21. Earlier, captain Alex Wakely made 42.

Willey, against his former county, had Ben Duckett caught behind and Ricardo Vasconcelos caught at first slip with the new ball before returning to get last man Ben Cotton caught at mid-off.

He has now taken eleven wickets in three matches since returning from the IPL.

Bresnan was selected ahead of England limited overs fast bowler Liam Plunkett and struck with his second ball when Rob Keogh edged behind and later had Wakely caught at mid-wicket.

Fisher had struck with the new ball to get Adam Rossington miscuing to mid-on, while Rashid dismissed Saif Zaib and Kleinveldt in similar fashion - caught at mid-on and mid-off respectively.

Thurston shared 42 and 46 for the seventh and eighth wickets with Kleinveldt and White before clipping Fisher to deep square-leg to make it 189-8 in the 38th over.

White continued the fightback as the last four wickets added 140.

Yorkshire quickly slipped to 14-2 inside five overs, losing openers Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore caught behind off Kleinveldt and Hutton.

But Willey continued his excellent recent form to get things back on track.

He hit four of his first sixes balls for four before launching Kleinveldt for two leg-side sixes in the 10th over to take the score to 52-2.

The left-hander reached 50 off 42 balls in the 17th over as he and Joe Root took the score to 85.

But Northants kept themselves in the game as Keogh’s off-spin accounted for Root, caught behind for 18 on the reverse sweep, and Che Pujara lbw as the score slipped to 102-4 after 24 overs.

Willey then holed out to Saif Zaib’s left-arm spin, miscuing to long-on as the score fell to 134-5.

Then came the match-clinching Ballance and Tattersall partnership.

Without taking too many risks, they were able to keep the scoreboard ticking. Ballance reached 50 off 47 balls and all but secured a trip down south next week before falling with 21 to win.