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 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 - 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 bottom 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. Then Dougie Brown got the full treatment, Fleming smacking four boundaries and Wood one in his first over which cost 21 runs and hurried Yorkshire on to 90 in eight overs.

Brown altogether went for eight fours in 12 deliveries before being replaced and the openers stayed in complete control until Wood tried to force Ashley Giles off the backfoot and was bowled for 65.

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

Vaughan fell lbw to Jamie Troughton for 22 and Lumb was trapped lbw by Brown but Fleming went remorselessly on and signed off with a further blast at Sheikh, hitting him for four fours and a six in one over before leaving skipper Anthony McGrath to make the winning run.

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.

Top scorer was opener Nick Knight who hit a powerful 95 before falling lbw while attempting to sweep Anthony McGrath but the momentum was maintained by Jamie Troughton who hammered 77. Troughton should have been stumped by Richard Blakey on 36 and he was badly dropped by Michael Lumb on the cover boundary when he was 63, but was finally dismissed swiping Tim Bresnan to Fleming at mid-on.

Penney thrashed 71 in eight overs with Penney who had blasted 45 when he cut Silverwood into Bresnan's hands at third man in the 45th over.

* Yorkshire handed out first-team caps to left-handed batsman Lumb and pace bowler Steve Kirby in a surprise ceremony last night during the interval.

Lumb, 23, has so far hit 911 first-class runs for Yorkshire with two centuries and six half-centuries.

Kirby, 25, has put himself on the fringe of an England call-up with 38 Championship wickets in his last five matches.