Michael Vaughan's dazzling Roses innings of 116 not out at Old Trafford will long be remembered by all who were fortunate enough to see it.

Much more importantly, the win which it brought exorcised the ghosts that have troubled Yorkshire ever since Lancashire beat them in two semi-finals on the same ground in 1996.

It was the first game - in the Benson and Hedges Cup - that really preyed on Yorkshire's mind right up to last Wednesday when that morale crushing defeat of eight years ago was finally avenged and its corpse laid to rest.

Yorkshire, thanks to an unbroken stand of 167 between Michael Bevan (95) and Richard Blakey (80), had recovered from 83 for five to set Lancashire a challenging target of 293.

A White Rose triumph appeared inevitable as Lancashire slumped to 174 for seven with the overs running out but Warren Hegg then launched an astonishing assault on the bowling with Craig White suffering more than most, and the last ball of the game arrived with Lancashire requiring two to win. Last man, Peter Martin, carved it to third man and just had time to scamper two before it came whizzing in over the stumps.

Never had Yorkshire had a game snatched away from them in such a sensational and unexpected manner and there were ashen faces in the dressing room as new captain, David Byas, and his team tried to come to terms with what had happened.

The wound cut deep and Yorkshire hoped to cleanse it a few weeks later in the semi-final of the NatWest Trophy but Lancashire came out on tops, winning by 19 runs after asking Yorkshire to make 294.

Once again, Bevan played well until departing for 85 and as soon as the game was over a helicopter dashed him to Heathrow to get him back to Australia.

Yorkshire have beaten Lancashire since then in all forms of cricket, including a 1999 win at Old Trafford in the quarter-finals of the NatWest Trophy, but not until last Wednesday have they paid their old rivals back in kind because Yorkshire were a long way off their target when the fourth wicket fell at 86 for four.

Remarkably, this was only Vaughan's second one-day century, the first one coming in 2002 at Taunton as Yorkshire beat Somerset on their way to winning the C&G Trophy.

On that occasion, Vaughan displayed a wide variety of high quality strokes, some of them of a type he had never attempted before; against Lancashire he was just as classy but more brutal.

All four of his sixes were astonishing, particularly the first near the start of his innings when a front-foot cover drive went skimming into the fence.

White and Byas were both overwhelmed with joy at the win which Vaughan brought them and Byas, usually a man of few words, was positively lavish in his praise.

"I never played for England myself but I can imagine the pressure on Michael coming straight into the Yorkshire side after just leading his country to a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand," he said.

"To put the effort he did into his batting and to show such dedication to Yorkshire's cause speaks volumes for the man.

"It was marvellous effort and I cannot speak too highly about it."