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Unbeaten Yorkshire kept up the pressure on Group Three leaders Lancashire with a dramatic one-run win over Northants.

Northants resumed on 94-4, chasing 220 for victory, and Luke Procter (27) and Saif Zaib (25) kept the game in the balance at lunch with their side 174-7.

Wayne Parnell and Simon Kerrigan took Northants to within 14 of victory when Duanne Olivier removed the latter.

And with just two runs needed, Parnell (33) was caught behind as Steven Patterson sealed a stunning win.

The match was evenly-poised going into the final day with the hosts needing six wickets and the visitors 126 runs, and the Tykes held their nerve, just, to clinch only their second one-run Championship win in their history, having pipped Middlesex by the same margin in 1976.

It preserved their unbeaten record, with three wins and a draw, while Northants agonisingly failed to pull off back-to-back wins after their stunning chase of 357 at Glamorgan last weekend and now have a win, a draw and two defeats.

Willey laid the platform for victory against his former side with a counter-attacking unbeaten 41 on day three which helped the hosts add 98 for the final two wickets and make the chase a much sterner task.

He then followed up with the run-out of key batsman Ricardo Vasconcelos for 41 late on day three, and went on to take three wickets, his third having Gareth Berg caught behind just after lunch which looked to have finally tipped a seesaw match Yorkshire's way, with Northants 178-8.

But South African Parnell, who had taken match figures of 10-143 with the ball, survived a drop from Tom Kohler-Cadmore on 17 to take Northants to the brink of victory, even after the ninth-wicket stand of 28 with Kerrigan was broken.

After a lengthy rain delay brought an early tea, Parnell, accompanied by Ben Sanderson, moved Northants to within a stroke of a famous win when he edged Yorkshire skipper Patterson to wicketkeeper Jonathan Tattersall who ended a magnificent contest with a smart low catch.