The Northern Knights are all but through to the main draw of the Champions League T20 tournament after crushing the Lahore Lions by 72 runs.

The overnight win makes it two from two for the Knights, representing New Zealand, in the qualifying stage with one match against the Mumbai Indians remaining.

The Northern Knights playing at Bay Oval. Photo: File.

Posting 170 for 6 in their 20 overs, the Knights new-ball pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult effectively ended the contest in the first six overs of the run-chase reducing the Lions to 19 for 5.

The Lions eventually folded up in the 18th over, all out for 98 runs.

Southee set things off for the Northern Knights landing a perfect yorker in the second over and snaring the wicket of Nasir Jamshed.

Boult then angled one across Ahmed Shehzad in the following over, lured the batsman to play at it, and found the ball take the outside edge on its way to the wicket-keeper.

Southee picked up a big wicket in the next over when Mohammad Hafeez attempted to pull a short delivery but only managed to feather one to the wicket-keeper.

The procession continued when Umar Akmal dragged a Boult delivery back onto his stumps in the fifth over and Umar Siddiq was given LBW in the sixth over.

The middle and lower order resisted for a while, but the Lahore Lions were up against it once they had lost half their side before the field restrictions were relaxed.

Saad Nasim was the only batsman to get into double digits making 58 from 40 balls.

Boult ended with 4-0-12-2, while Southee returned impressive figures of 4-0-22-3. Ish Sodhi and Scott Styris were the other wicket-takers in the innings.

Earlier in the evening, a rollicking 90-run fourth wicket partnership between Daniel Flynn and BJ Watling propelled the Northern Knights to 170 for 6.

Flynn, who was put down first ball, batted with plenty of intent from the word go.

Three of the first five balls he faced were dispatched to the boundary; the second ball took the top edge and raced over the top of slip, while the fourth and fifth deliveries were cut away to the point boundary.

He was put down yet again on 26, when his opposite number grassed an opportunity at cover.

The Northern Knights skipper found a good ally in BJ Watling, who didn't waste too much time after walking out to bat at 60 for 3.

He started aggressively too, picking up boundaries as his first two scoring shots. There was a quiet period of three overs when neither Flynn nor Watling scored a boundary.

Flynn broke the shackles when he hooked a short delivery from Imran Ali over the square leg fence. Watling joined in the act soon after, hitting Mohammad Hafeez for a six and picking up a boundary in the next over bowled by Imran Ali.

Aizaz Cheema came in for some stick in the 16th over; Flynn hit a boundary and a six, while Watling picked up a boundary as 16 runs were added to the scoreboard making it the most productive over of the innings.

Both batsmen were dismissed for 53; Flynn was beaten in the air by Adnan Rasool and stumped by Umar Akmal in the 18th over, while Watling perished in the final over when he hit a full toss down the throat of long on.

The Northern Knights added only five runs to the score in the final over of the innings, but still had a challenging total of 170 for 6. Kane Williamson (14), Daniel Harris (20) and Scott Styris (14) were the other notable contributors for the Kiwi side.