Now they have won three of last four and are in a three-way tie for first in the

Yorkshire 141 for 7 (Buck 3-25) beat Lancashire 136 (Livingstone 36, Patterson 3-23) by five runsScorecardThere was a brief cheer for Wales quarter-final victory at the European Championships, but that could wait for the late-night TV highlights. It would take something particularly momentous to deflect a capacity crowd at Headingley from their Roses obsession with the last over about to begin and a thrilling game in the balance. In these parts, the Roses T20 has become crickets No. 1 night of the summer.As it turned out, another wonderful Twenty20 encounter between the old rivals fell to Yorkshire by five runs with two balls remaining. Somehow a crotchety night delivered a compelling contest, a match played out before a 17,000 crowd that cared passionately about the result. Caring who wins and loses, and making a hell of a noise about it, is a lesson that all Twenty20 crowds in England must embrace. Too many crowds are too quiet by half.Lancashires last-wicket pair needed 12 off the final over. Stephen Parry hit a leg-glance off Steven Patterson for four but he edged the next ball to wicketkeeper Andy Hodd as Yorkshire clung on. Time to get out the mobile phones and check out Wales.The greatest drama of all was reserved for the 11th over of Lancashires innings. Chasing 142 in 18 overs on a sticky surface, they were up against it with 74 needed from eight overs, only for the left-arm spinner Karl Carver to bowl three full-tosses in a row, all of which Liam Livingstone deposited over the leg-side for six.His captain, Alex Lees, volunteered a word. For Gods sake, land it on the cut bit, would have sufficed. Carver got a yorker in with his fourth ball and, although in truth his final two deliveries were nothing special, Livingstone and Steven Croft in turn perished to smart catches at deep midwicket and deep square leg respectively. Suddenly, Lancashire were 88 for 5. With the crowd baying its appreciation, Carver probably learned as much about himself in three minutes as he has all season.More twists threatened. A particularly malevolent cloud did its worst, the rain briefly lashed down, but the umpires stayed on. Lancashire, aware of the D/L par score shining from the scoreboard sought to get ahead of the rate, and got level for one ball, but then Luke Procter was caught tight at to the line at midwicket by Carver.The catching from both sides was excellent all night: standards to more than match any T20 league in the world. Adam Lyth was outstanding for the White Rose, the best a brilliant diving effort at deep backward square to silence Jordan Clark; Clark responded in kind in the field for the Red.A hat-trick of Championships remains within Yorkshires capabilities, but this win would have brought relief because T20 refuses to come to them easily. They escaped the foot of the table, whereas Lancashire, with realistic hopes of qualification for the quarter-finals, failed to break into the top four. They not only had to fight Lancashire, it seemed they had to fight themselves.Lancashires young attack, held together by Parrys left-arm spin, responded to all that Yorkshire could offer, intelligently cut its pace and ran its variations without a moments hesitation. Yorkshire looked as if they yearned for urgency and innovation, but had not quite come to terms with it.Their seasons statistics did not inspire confidence. Midway through the 14-game programme, only Lees had managed 100 runs, Yorkshires calculation that the appointment of a young captain would bring a change of tone bringing no miracles. Lyth had at least forced his way into an eleven that should have always found a home for him, even though a career average of 18 over 65 matches is nothing to shout about.Yorkshire have been bereft in Powerplays all season, their record among the worst in the country, but 40 for 2 off five overs was a sound enough start. Lyth set off like a man possessed, Nathan Buck and Clark cut for four then leathered over the leg-side for six. But when he was snuffed out for 23 he was one of four Yorkshire batsmen to be dismissed in the 20s. Parry outwitted Kane Williamson to bowl him, Gary Ballance fell to a preconceived leg-side flick.But Lancashire found conditions just as challenging as Steven Patterson made an impact at both ends of the innings.One of the delights of the night from a Yorkshire perspective was the display of Azeem Rafiq. A promising first phase at Yorkshire was ended by injury as his action fell apart and his attitude did pretty much the same. His four-over spell of 1 for 20 was another impressive claim for a full contract. His wicket, delivered with the coolest of attitudes, beat Steven Croft as it flopped towards him at 46mph. Village-pace spin, beautifully delivered.Its been a tough couple of years but I cant hide from that, Rafiq said. Im just trying to enjoy each day and see where it goes. Steve Oldham, a former long-serving Yorkshire coach, has nurtured him, latterly, at Sheffield United. Hurt by his sacking, and viewed - reluctantly - by those who removed him as no longer uplifting enough, Oldhams love for the game has remained unshaken and has delivered Rafiq back to Yorkshire, healed and ready once more for the fray.Authentic Custom Oilers Jersey . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. Custom Oilers T-shirts . 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After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91.Some of the sports stories The Associated Press is covering Tuesday. A full Sports Digest will be sent by about 3 p.m. All times EST:- OXON HILL, Md. -- The Washington Nationals try to close the first big trade at the baseball winter meetings, aiming to get White Sox ace Chris Sale.- OXON HILL, Md. -- Relievers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman pitched multiple innings in the playoffs, but dont expect managers to adopt that strategy during the season.- NASSAU, Bahamas -- Tiger Woods is back, and now hes gone again. Still to be determined is when he plays and how much.- Profiles on two Heisman Trophy finalists: quarterbacks Deshaun Watson of Clemson and Lamar Jackson of Louisville.- On a momentous night in the NBA, Klay Thompson of the Warriors scores a career-high 60 points in just 29 minutes and Russell Westbrook of the Thunder records his sixth straight triple-double.- PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby doesnt want to describe his scoring binge, just enjoy it. He has a league-leading 17 goals despite missing the Penguins first six games because of a concussion.- Villanova already faces pressure as the NCAA basketball champion. The Wildcats now face even more after rising to No. 1 in the AP rankings. They play La Salle on Tuesday night.- NEW YORK -- No. 5 Duke plays No. 21 Florida in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, where the Blue Devils lost last month to Kansas on a shot iin the finals seconds.dddddddddddd Game starts 9:30 p.m.- SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Notre Dame women wont have to wait long to try to reclaim the No. 1 ranking they lost this week. The No. 2 Fighting Irish play No. 1 UConn at home on Wednesday.- INDIANAPOLIS -- A month ago, the Colts were desperate. Their offense was stagnant, the defense porous. Now they have won three of last four and are in a three-way tie for first in the AFC South.- PITTSBURGH -- Mike Tomlin believes in what the Steelers coach calls December football. Whatever the formula, it agrees with his team. The Steelers are 25-13 in December during his time.- HARVEY, La. -- The man accused of fatally shooting ex-NFL player Joe McKnight during a road rage dispute is arrested and charged with manslaughter. He had been released last week.- LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A few months after the closing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, the IOC has a new tag line for South Americas first Olympics: The most perfect imperfect games.- CANASTOTA, N.Y. -- The International Boxing Hall of Fame announces its 2017 class. Announcement at 1 p.m.- The U.S. has become the world power in ice dance. For the second straight year, three American couples have made the Grand Prix Final, which starts Friday in Marseille, France. ' ' '