ANDREW Flintoff marked his Twenty20 debut with a blazing innings and took over as Lancashire captain but it was not enough to see them to victory over Yorkshire at Headingley.

He was upstaged by Australian Ian Harvey who finished unbeaten on 108 from just 59 balls as the White Rose reached their target of 169 with 13 balls left to defeat the Red Rose for the second time this season.

After being put into bat Flintoff smashed 86 from 47 balls, taking a particular liking to Steve Kirby who went for 60 runs in his four overs. But the England all-rounder lacked support from the rest of Lancashire order and when he was out in the 14th over with the score on 133 for six they struggled to post a defendable total.

Flintoff said: "I just played to my strengths. It is a very fast game and it is hard to react to what's happening. Those first six overs are just crazy and Harvey played a super innings."

There were some poor shots and two careless run outs as Lancashire failed by five balls to use up their 20 overs, a major error in any one-day cricket but particularly this shortened form.

Flintoff's day got even busier as he was pushed into service as skipper after Warren Hegg pulled a hamstring batting while Mal Loye took over behind the stumps. But he was powerless to stop the Harvey onslaught and a century stand with Phil Jaques that took the game away from Lancashire.

He did at least manage three overs, his first bowl since the Trent Bridge test match, and hopes to try again today after seeing how he pulls up overnight.

The match against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford is now a must win situation for Lancashire and they may still need results in the other games to go their way if they want to progress to the quarter-finals.