YORKSHIRE'S chances of a home semi-final in the Royal London Cup were rocked by a five-wicket defeat to bottom side Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The Vikings have now qualified for the knockout stages but they have been knocked off top spot in the North Group after Worcestershire beat Durham.

They are now one point behind and must beat Leicestershire at Headingley under lights in their final group game on Tuesday to have any chance of finishing top to secure a home semi-final.

If Worcester win at Derbyshire, Yorkshire will be consigned to an extra play-off game next month.

Yorkshire's second defeat in seven one-day matches this summer came about after they had been reduced to 50-3 having elected to bat, including Adam Lyth out to the first ball of the match.

They still looked to have posted a competitive 281-8 as Joe Root hit 83, Tim Bresnan 65 and Matthew Waite 71.

All-rounder Waite, 21, posted his maiden first-team fifty as he and Bresnan shared an entertaining 116 stand inside 16 overs for the sixth wicket on a slowish pitch with a short boundary on one side.

But the Bears, wounded by a dismal defence of the title, knocked off the runs with 2.3 overs to spare.

Openers Jonathan Trott and Sam Hain, who hit 70 and 55, shared 124 inside 21 overs for the first wicket before Ian Bell added 98 off 85 balls.

Earlier, Lyth had edged Keith Barker behind to start an ultimately frustrating day.

Peter Handscomb fell the same way shortly afterwards, while Jonny Bairstow miscued Rikki Clarke to mid-on.

Root was typically measured in his final appearance before England's one-day commitments against South Africa and in the Champions Trophy.

Incidentally, Yorkshire will be without all of their England players for the next month.

Root started the White Rose recovery with the bat, sharing 64 for the fourth wicket with Gary Ballance (22).

Yorkshire captain Ballance was caught at long-leg off seamer Grant Thornton before Root edged Clarke behind as Yorkshire fell to 149-5 in the 33rd over.

Then it was Bresnan and Waite who really dragged their side back into the game with some clean striking, although ultimately it was not enough.

Bresnan reached 50 off 49 balls with one of four sixes, before Waite reached his maiden 50 off 47 and overtook his team-mate shortly afterwards with back-to-back maximums off Thornton.

The pair were then two of three wickets to fall at the death.

Warwickshire's chase got off to a rollicking start thanks largely to Trott.

The former England batsman struck David Willey for three fours in a row in the fifth over and Bresnan a straight six in the next. He reached 50 off 40 balls in a total of 75-0 after ten overs.

Azeem Rafiq gave the visitors a sniff with three of four wickets to fall as the score slipped to 167-4 in the 30th over.

He removed Hain reverse-sweeping and Tim Ambrose bowled in the 24th, before Ateeq Javid was caught at short fine-leg shortly afterwards.

But with captain Bell at the crease, Warwickshire were always likely winners. He hit Bresnan for back-to-back sixes straight and over mid-wicket in one over before Javid departed for five.

Bell reached 50 off 49 balls and shared a partnership of 111 with Clarke before falling to Waite with only four runs needed.

Willey said: "Hats off to Warwickshire, they played well. Some of their guys bowled nicely and their batters came out and played positively. Trotty got put down early on but played nicely after that. Belly and Clarkey as well. 

"But we've been playing some good cricket throughout this competition, so we're not pulling our hair out too much. We'll just carry on doing what we've been doing. It's been successful, so there's no need to change too much.

"We didn't bowl as well as we'd have liked. But there's not one area that's let us down dramatically. It's just the one percenters that add up. They played well, which teams are allowed to do."