Blistering fifties from ex-England duo Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali helped Yorkshire claim a key five-wicket victory chasing 206 against North Group rivals Durham at Headingley to close in on the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.

Durham stumbled after a fast start in posting 205 for 9, with captain Alex Lees top-scoring with six sixes in 73 off 35 balls. Legspinner Jafer Chohan stood out with three for 30 from four overs, setting Yorkshire up for a fifth win in nine games.

Captain-opener Bairstow led the chase with 66 off 36 balls before Moeen contributed seven sixes in 60 off 32. Durham’s fifth defeat in eight – this off the penultimate ball – is a hammer blow to their hopes of qualification. Yorkshire, meanwhile, could end the night leading the North Group.

Lees raced to a 21-ball fifty as Durham ended the powerplay on 89 without loss. He had started the third over with three successive leg-side sixes off Moeen’s offspin and dominated a 97-run opening stand inside eight overs with Graham Clark, who contributed 29 and became his county’s leading T20 run-scorer (3210) before holing out against Faheem Ashraf.

This was a fabulous batting pitch, and while Durham scored at a fast rate early on, they lost momentum after Lees top-edged a pull at AJ Tye behind en route to 120 for 3 after 10 overs.

Ben McKinney helped to briefly regain momentum with four sixes in a career best 42, but Yorkshire had much the better of the second half of the innings. Chohan was to the fore, getting Ollie Robinson caught behind and Kasey Aldridge at long-on.

Durham found or cleared the boundary 15 times in the first six powerplay overs but only 13 times through the rest of the innings. Hasan Ali struck twice in the last over and finished with three.

Adam Lyth hit two sixes and Bairstow one, added to a flurry of boundaries, as the hosts raced to 54 without loss in the fifth over of their chase.

Lyth fell for 26 to a one-handed stunner of a return catch from Ben Raine almost immediately before brilliant legspinner Nathan Sowter bowled Will Luxton – 81 for 2 in the seventh. But Bairstow bullied his way to a 26-ball fifty. He helped them reach the halfway point at 103 for 2, with Moeen also at the crease.

Bairstow fell at the start of the 12th when he drilled Raine to cover with 107 on the board. Moeen then took on the responsibility.

When he hoisted four sixes in five balls off Aldridge’s seam in the 14th over – 146 for 3 – Yorkshire had the game in the palm of their hand with their ex-England all-rounder on 43.

Moeen’s fifty was reached in 28 balls with six sixes, but when he found deep square-leg off Callum Parkinson’s left-arm spin, the score was 168 for 4 in the 17th.

Matthew Potts then failed to defend 12 off the last over, with Matthew Revis hitting a four and a winning straight six.