Yorkshire Vikings face Grace Road climax after conceding record T20 score at Headingley

Birmingham Bears made 238-5 after they were sent into bat, a score which eclipsed Lancashire’s 231-4 in the Roses game at Old Trafford in 2015.

Although they made a spirited effort to chase it down, bowled out for 207 in reply, the challenge was ultimately too stiff and Yorkshire must now avoid defeat in their final game against Leicestershire at Grace Road on Sunday to progress to the quarter-finals.

Victory confirmed Birmingham’s passage as group winners and exacted revenge for a 10-wicket drubbing inflicted by Yorkshire at Edgbaston last month.

This was much more like it from the North Group leaders, who barely seemed to break sweat in advancing to their mammoth score in the sense that there was little frenzied or frenetic in their strokeplay.

Paul Stirling provided much of it en route to the highest score of 81, the former Middlesex man lashing seven sixes and four fours in an innings that spanned just 41 balls.

Stirling hit five of those sixes into the North-East stand, as if his worst enemy was sitting somewhere in its seats.

Strong and squat, the Irishman packs a mean punch and he was in the mood on a night when heavy rain delayed the start by 35 minutes before the ground became bathed in golden sunshine.

Dan Mousley, a 20-year-old local product who made his List A debut against Yorkshire at York last August, provided further punch towards the end with a career-best, unbeaten 63 from 25 balls with seven fours and three sixes, a clean-hitting left-hander of high potential.

Only Shadab Khan (4-0-38-2) went for less than 10 runs an over as the Yorkshire bowlers were collectively flayed on a typically true T20 surface.

Before a crowd that looked to be in the region of 7,000-8,000, Shadab took the first wicket of the night when Alex Davies top-edged a sweep to Matthew Waite at short fine-leg.

It ended an opening stand of 42 with Stirling inside four overs, the visitors taking their score to 78-1 by the end of the six-over powerplay.

Shadab had Sam Hain caught behind for 25 off 18 balls to end a second-wicket partnership of 72 in 38 deliveries with Stirling, who showed a particular liking for the long-off and mid-wicket regions, which he targeted with aplomb.

He was finally dismissed by David Willey, the Yorkshire captain, who trapped him leg-before as he eyed up another big hit on the on-side, which left Birmingham 146-3 in the 13th over.

It became 160-4 in the 16th when Chris Benjamin was brilliantly caught by Dom Bess running back from short fine-leg off Revis, and Adam Hose was run-out in the penultimate over when Mousley squirted out a delivery from Thompson just a few feet from the bat and the bowler beat Hose to the non-striker’s end with a nifty right sidefoot on to the stumps.

Birmingham biffed 51 runs from the final three overs to turn an imposing score into a daunting one.

Yorkshire kept up with the required rate for much of their innings and were three runs ahead at the halfway stage – 117-2 versus 114-2.

They had been given a flying start by Adam Lyth and Finn Allen, who shared 67 for the first wicket before Allen fell to the final ball of the fifth over, getting a leading edge to point.

It was a typical innings from Allen in this tournament, one that got going but ultimately not quite far enough as he fell for 29 from just 13 deliveries.

Dawid Malan came and went, succumbing for six when he cracked a delivery straight to cover, but Lyth raced to a fine half-century from 32 balls. The left-hander was third out in the 13th over when he was adjudged caught low down at backward-point by Benjamin off Danny Briggs, the left-arm spinner, Lyth standing his ground while the umpires conferred and confirmed that the catch had in fact been taken.

When Tom Kohler-Cdmore fell two balls later, caught at deep mid-wicket, Birmingham began to re-assert themselves and were further boosted when Willey holed out to long-on with the total on 156.

Yorkshire fell to 178-6 in the 16th when Harry Brook perished for a jaunty 29, stumped one delivery after hitting the spinner Jake Lintott for six over long-on. The game was effectively up when Lintott followed that with the wickets of Shadab and Waite from successive balls, the former pouched at long-on, the latter stumped.

Thompson picked out deep backward-square in the penultimate over and Revis was last out in the final over, departing in an attempt to clear the rope in the same direction.

Carlos Brathwaite, the Birmingham captain, finished with his side’s best figures of 3-32, Lintott returning 3-42.

Yorkshire were bowled out with four balls of their innings left, with this their fifth defeat in 13 matches to go with seven wins and a tie.

They remain fourth in the table, one point ahead of Leicestershire but with a much better net run-rate.