Northamptonshire 180 for 6 (wide 47) times yorkshire 102 (Taylor 5-28) by 78 points
Willey hit a windy 28 and claimed two wickets with a left arm swing as the Steelbacks posted 180 for six and edged out Yorkshire for just 102 in 16 overs. But Taylor, 28, was the main man in a 78-point victory.
It came after the Vikings slumped to a record 68 in the loss to Derbyshire at Chesterfield on Sunday.
Willey’s former side gave up the top four quarter-final spots after their fifth defeat in 11 Group North games, while their current charges won for the fifth time to keep their hopes alive with three games to play.
Jafer Chohan, the young leg spinner, shone with a career-high 13 for four overs for the Vikings, who then dropped to 22 for four in response and couldn’t recover.
Ricardo Vasconcelos backed up an excellent visiting power play at 55 for one with 37, although he was the only man to fall when Dawid Malan took a well-judged hold from cover against Jordan Thompson.
And his wicket with the penultimate ball in the sixth sparked a Steelbacks stumble.
Chohan, 20 and in his 11th T20 game, was at the heart of things having not played at Chesterfield when Yorkshire conceded 212 for four against Derbyshire in the aforementioned Sunday defeat.
He struck out Chris Lynn for three on an edge sweep, with Adam Lyth taking a well-judged hold like Malan’s running from a short leg – 70 for two in the ninth.
And more damage followed as Emilio Gay missed a high hold from Thompson halfway through for 40 and Saif Zaib was exhausted by a direct hit from forward Shan Masood on the third court – 94 for four in the 13th.
It was the first of three outings in an innings revived by South African-born Broad, 22 and only in his third county appearance, and Willey.
They shared 60 inside five overs before Willey was exhausted at the forward end, coming in for a third for 28-for-18 after good work at deep midwicket from Bess and pitcher Mike.
AJ Tye hit two sixes for 12 before falling short thanks to a direct hit from Thompson in his follow-up.
Northamptonshire’s good end of innings, including Broad hitting two of the last three boundary balls, was then carried over with the ball as they reduced the Vikings to seven-for-two inside 15 balls.
Ben Sanderson blasted Lyth on the third court, where Zaib got a good hold on the run over his shoulder, then Willey got James Wharton behind.
It was not the ground for a total of over 200 as is the norm at Headingley, and Yorkshire already looked to be struggling.
Any doubt surrounding this theory was quickly removed.
Willey fired Masood as he gave himself room to play offside before Matthew Revis was beaten by fellow ex-Tyke Sanderson on the next lesson as the score fell to 22 for four in the sixth .
Even Malan’s in-form presence in the crease couldn’t revive Yorkshire.
Seamer Taylor two-hit twice in the ninth, with Jonny Tattersall caught in the third and David Wiese playing for a golden duck as the score fell to 49 for six.
Taylor came back later to beat Mike and Malan, for 34, and catch Thompson halfway through. Australian Tye ended things by bowling with Chohan.