Yorkshire's Adam Lyth broke the record for the highest British domestic T20 score as he plundered a brilliant 161 in the NatWest Blast against Northamptonshire at Headingley.
Lyth hammered seven sixes and 20 fours in his 73-ball innings to surpass Brendon McCullum's previous best of 158 not out for Birmingham in 2015.
The opener's contribution looked like setting Yorkshire for a world record total but they fell just short, ending on 260 for four, still beating the previous British domestic highest of 254 for three set by Gloucestershire in 2011.
It kept Yorkshire's hopes of NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final qualification alive as they beat Northampton shire by 124 runs.
Lyth underpinned the Vikings' mammoth score and while Northants raced out of the blocks in reply, reaching 103 for two after eight overs as Richard Levi powered 65, but they subsided to 136 all out in 14.5 overs.
Off-spinner Azeem Rafiq claimed five for 19 from four overs as the Vikings leapfrogged the Steelbacks to second place in the North Group.
Yorkshire have now completed their group campaign but still require other results to go their way to qualify on Friday while Northants are out of the top four.
Lyth shared 127 in 9.4 overs for the first wicket with Tom Kohler-Cadmore and 121 in a further 9.1 with ex-Steelback David Willey. Kohler-Cadmore hit 41 off 24 balls and Willey 40 off 22.
Left-handed Lyth hit 20 boundaries and seven of 13 sixes, reaching 50 off 21 balls, 100 off 50 and 150 off 66.
Against his former county, new ball seamer Ben Sanderson's figures of nought for 77 from four overs were the second worst in T20 history.
Northants flew out of the blocks in reply as Levi gave the Vikings something to think about with a 27-ball half-century.
At 85 for one after six overs, Northants were actually ahead of Yorkshire's power play score score of 80 without loss and they brought up their century for the loss of two wickets in the eighth over.
Key man Levi handed Rafiq his third wicket when he found long-on - Rafiq had earlier bowled Adam Rossington and had Josh Cobb caught behind.
When Levi and Ben Duckett fell in the space of two balls at the end of the ninth and start of the 10th to Rafiq and fellow spinner Adil Rashid, with the latter bowled reverse sweeping, Northants were on the ropes at 110 for four.
Rafiq then got rid of Steelbacks captain Alex Wakely and all-rounder Steven Crook in the space of three balls in the 11th over to complete his five-for before Rashid (three for 31) helped to mop up the tail as the visitors subsided quickly, losing their last eight wickets for 26 runs.
Lyth was lost for words after his monumental innings.
"I'm pretty speechless to be honest," he said. "The power play went very well and I kicked on from there. I kept on trying to clear the ropes. It was my night tonight.
"The Championship stuff hasn't gone so well for me this year, but the white ball stuff has been very good. I showed tonight what I'm capable of doing if I get through the first six.
"I'm over the moon with my performance, but the main thing is that we got the win. Hopefully results go our way tomorrow and we qualify.
Northants captain Alex Wakely addedL "We never got in the game. That was one of the best knocks I've seen in T20 cricket. I thought I'd seen the best when, a couple of years ago, Dave Willey hit a hundred against Sussex. But that was just phenomenal.
"It wasn't just that he got a hundred, he went on and got 160. We never managed to claw it back."
Source: PA
