Matthew Elliott became a conquering hero at Lord's on Saturday with a stunning unbeaten century.

The Australian's 128 not out guided Yorkshire to the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy after beating Somerset by six wickets.

But he was not the only star on a glorious day on which Yorkshire were forgiven their shortcomings in the Championship by thousands of ecstatic fans.

England bowler Matthew Hoggard gave Yorkshire hope with his competition best figures of five for 65, then when the going got tough Michael Vaughan and Anthony McGrath provided Elliott with exactly the support he needed.

Since joining Yorkshire as Darren Lehmann's replacement three weeks ago, Elliott has exhibited astonishing form, which even Lehmann would be hard pressed to match.

Coming in with Yorkshire 19 for two as they chased a victory target of 257, Elliott calmly took a grip of the situation from the moment he arrived at the crease until he hit the winning boundary with two overs remaining.

His three-hour epic contained 16 fours and came off 125 balls.

Since his arrival he has scored 83 and eight (run out) in the Roses match at Old Trafford, followed up with 109 against Leicestershire in the Norwich Union League then prepared for the Trophy final with 92 and 52 not out off Hampshire's attack at Southampton.

By the time he made his way back to the Lord's dressing room, Elliott had plundered 471 runs in six innings for Yorkshire at an average of 117.75.

Neither coach Wayne Clark nor any of the supporters could praise Yorkshire too highly for a performance which was so professional that they were twice able to fight their way out of tricky situations.

Their weakest moments came at the start of each innings, but as the game entered its final phase only one team was going to win.

Somerset fans were soon roaring their approval as Marcus Trescothick set about Hoggard with vicious strokes, which brought him 20 runs in one early over. But the England opener's return after a broken thumb was abruptly ended by a breathtaking one-handed catch by Vaughan twisting to his right at cover.

Captain Richard Blakey's decision to give Hoggard one more over allowed the bowler to gain his revenge and Hoggard twice came back to knock over a couple of wickets in each spell as Somerset were held in check.

Chris Silverwood, who only arrived at the ground 15 minutes before the start following a pain-killing injection in hospital on his injured ankle, bravely bowled eight overs with the new ball in which he gave away only 30 runs.

McGrath also demonstrated the increasing value of his medium-pacers with nine overs for 37 runs, including the crucial wicket of skipper Jamie Cox, who had added a brisk 81 in 93 balls with Peter Bowler.

Once Hoggardd returned to get Bowler caught behind with the first ball of his new spell Yorkshire had things under control.

After Richard Johnson removed Craig White, Silverwood and Matthew Wood, Vaughan sensibly curbed his attacking instincts and worked the ball around skilfully in a 93 stand in 20 overs.

Vaughan was lbw to Steffan Jones for 31 the ball after surviving what appeared to be a much better shout.

McGrath survived another close lbw appeal before taking a grip of the situation. Each batsman took a boundary off Andy Caddick as Somerset played their last card and lost.

Once through the nervous 90s, Elliott celebrated with three consecutive boundaries off Johnson and his winning hit for four took the unbroken stand to 103.