Dawid Malan, Adam Lyth power Yorkshire to sixth straight Blast win

Dawid Malan's fifth fifty of this season's Vitality Blast - a superb 79 off 45 balls - helped Yorkshire to a record-equalling sixth straight T20 win as they chased 196 to beat Leicestershire by eight wickets with 11 balls remaining at Headingley.

Only once before, in 2012, had the Vikings won six successive games - and this run has put them in great shape for quarter-finals qualification having lost their first three North Group games.

Louis Kimber bludgeoned a career-best unbeaten 59 off 38 to power the Foxes to 195 for five after a mixed start to the innings. It improved a week which had seen the 26-year-old dismissed obstructing the field in a Championship game against Gloucestershire on Tuesday.

But he was on the losing side as Malan united with fellow fifty-maker Adam Lyth, the left-handers sharing a superb club record opening stand of 158 in 14 overs.

Unbeaten Lyth went on to top-score with a season's best 90 off 50 balls, while Malan finished his innings as the competition's leading run-scorer with 488 to his name.

Leicestershire, inserted, raced to 63 without loss after six overs of powerplay, Nick Welch scoring 39 of them.

He pulled former team-mate Ben Mike for a huge six over the Western Terrace but only added one more run to his tally before falling to Jordan Thompson as the Foxes slipped to 65 for one in the seventh, starting a Yorkshire fightback.

A stunning piece of relay boundary fielding from David Wiese at long-on followed as he palmed back what looked a certain Rishi Patel six to Shan Masood, who was lurking 10 yards away.

That gave Mike his first wicket, and his second followed immediately as Colin Ackermann flicked a knee-high full toss to deep square-leg next ball - 82 for three in the ninth.

Opener Harry Swindells accrued a busy 39 before falling victim as Wiese had the wicketkeeper-batter caught at deep midwicket with a slower ball - 110 for four in the 13th.

Dom Bess bowled nicely for nought for 22 from four overs. However, the balance tipped again as Kimber and South African Wiaan Mulder united to share 53 inside six overs for the fifth wicket.

While Mulder (31 off 17 balls) crashed two fours and two leg-side sixes off Mike as the 17th over went for 22 to revive the score to 156 for four, Kimber went on to top score.

Having handled the ball against Gloucestershire, Kimber was strong on both sides of the wicket here in bettering a previous best 55 posted less a fortnight ago.

He clubbed Matthew Revis for six over long-on and then sliced Wiese over backward point at the start of the 20th to reach a 34-ball fifty. The Foxes scored 61 off the last four overs.

But Malan and Lyth made the target look a long way below par on a ground which has seen two scores north of 215 already this campaign.

Languid Malan followed Welch's lead and cleared the Western Terrace off Josh Hull's seam as the second over went for 18 (21 without loss). Though, in fairness, there was nothing languid about this blow. It was all power.

Malan took boundaries on both sides of the wicket as he made the early running with 35 of 56 without loss after six overs. But Lyth found his rhythm too.

He actually overtook Malan on 37, by which time the Vikings were motoring with 78 early in the ninth over.

Like Kimber, Lyth reached his fifty with a six off 28 balls, this one pulled off Rehan Ahmed's leg-spin. And when Malan followed him to the same milestone off 31 balls later in the 10th over, the hosts were cruising at 104 without loss.

There was no pegging this one back, and it was nothing more than a consolatory strike when Malan carved Michael Finan's left-arm seam out to deep cover at the end of the 14th over.

Finan also removed James Wharton before Lyth hit the winning runs at the start of the 19th. He and Malan shared five sixes.