England captain, Michael Vaughan, kept alive Yorkshire Phoenix's hopes of promotion in the totesport League yesterday when his calmly constructed half-century helped to bring victory over Derbyshire Scorpions by five wickets in the rain-affected match at Derby.

Now they must beat Durham Dynamos in their final game at Scarborough on Sunday but they will then have to await the result of Somerset Sabres' clash with Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Taunton the following Wednesday to know their fate.

Just as importantly for Vaughan, his innings sharpened up his batting ahead of England's three-match series against India in the NatWest Challenge which starts at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

In one-day internationals so far this summer, Vaughan has averaged only 9.4 but his Yorkshire knock will have boosted his confidence.

Chasing a revised target of 173, Yorkshire made it with eight balls to spare but they were struggling for a while after openers Matthew Wood and Andrew Gale had both gone with only 37 scored in 13 overs.

Vaughan, who had begun carefully, was joined by Australian Phil Jaques and the third wicket pair transformed the situation with a 105 stand in 13 overs.

Jaques was the more aggressive, on-driving Jon Moss into the pavilion for the only six of the match, and there was one big slice of luck for Vaughan on 38 when he hit a full toss from Hassan Adnan gently to Graeme Welch at mid-wicket but the fielder was blinded by the sun and could not see the ball.

Vaughan soon followed Jaques to the 50 mark but Yorkshire suffered a double blow as both batsmen fell with the score on 142, Vaughan playing on to Mohammad

Ali for 57 from 69 balls with three fours and Jaques being bowled in the next over from Mo Sheikh for 62 off 48 deliveries with seven fours and a six.

Anthony McGrath was also bowled by Sheikh, who finished with three for 25, but Vic Craven and Ismail Dawood stood firm to knock off the remaining runs.

Although play began on time after Derbyshire had won the toss, there were three interruptions for heavy showers inside the first 11 overs during which time the only wicket to fall was that of pinch-hitter, Nick Walker, who lost his off-stump to Matthew Hoggard's first delivery with the new ball.

Australian Moss and Chris Bassano then added 47 in ten overs for the second wicket before Richard Dawson came on and in the off-spinner's first over Bassano aimed to cut and was bowled.

Moss, who carried his bat for 54 in the rain-hit 17-overs match at Headingley earlier in the month, again proved impossible to dislodge and when Derbyshire's innings ended on 168 for six he was unbeaten on 75 off 94 deliveries with four boundaries.

Dawson was the most effective of the bowlers, restricting batsmen so well that he finished with three for 22 from his seven overs.

Rather than risk bringing back Steve Kirby, whose opening two overs cost 16 runs, Wood opted for further off-spin from Vaughan and then himself, Wood's three overs for 16 runs being his first in the competition while Vaughan gave away 36 runs from six reasonable overs.

Vaughan's finest moment in the field, however, came when Hoggard returned for a second spell and Steve Stubbings cut his first ball viciously to point when Vaughan twisted to his left to hold on to a great catch.