New Zealand captain Matthew Fleming played Yorkshire's greatest ever floodlit innings at Headingley last night to rush them to a sensational victory by seven wickets over Warwickshire Bears.

The tall left-hander powered his way to a dazzling 139 not out with thrilling strokeplay as Yorkshire made light work of reaching a stiff 273 target with 6.4 overs to spare.

Fleming's astonishing effort was the third highest Yorkshire innings in 34 years of county league cricket and it came off 104 balls and contained 18 fours and four sixes, the only higher scores being Darren Lehmann's 191 and Craig White's 148.

Yorkshire's breathtaking win brought them the double over Warwickshire but it was still only their third victory of the season and they remain in bottom place in the First Division table.

Fleming was not the only star to come out for Yorkshire, however, because his opening partner, Matthew Wood, also shone brightly in a magnificent first-wicket stand of 167 in a mere 21 overs which had the 6,000-plus fans on the edge of their seats.

The 50 came up in the sixth over but the onslaught should have ended there because Fleming cut Neil Carter towards the boundary at backward point where Mo Sheikh cupped the ball in his hands before dropping it over the rope.

After an ineffective three overs for 23 runs with the new ball, Waqar Younis was replaced by the unfortunate Sheikh who suffered further misery as Fleming hooked him for six.

Wood tried to force Ashley Giles off the backfoot and was bowled for 65 from 63 deliveries with 11 boundaries.

Michael Vaughan came to the crease for Yorkshire for the first time since his appointment as England captain but the spotlight remained firmly on Fleming who moved to his maiden National League century in just 76 balls and 102 minutes.

Warwickshire must have thought the match was theirs for the taking after winning the toss and then punishing some poor Yorkshire bowling, particularly from Chris Silverwood who went for 35 in his last three wayward overs with the late wickets of Trevor Penney and Michael Powell being little consolation.