Within the first match of the semi-final of the Vitality T20 Blast at Edgbaston, Northamptonshire captain David Willey pulled off one of many biggest catches in cricket historical past. He, together with teammate Saif Zaib, achieved the unimaginable with an unimaginable relay catch beneath stress in Saturday’s knockout sport.
The incident occurred whereas Somerset batsman Craig Overton was bowling with Northants’ Ben Sanderson. The bowler bowled a superbly sluggish supply and Overton thought he might profit from it earlier than Willie did the unimaginable by catching the ball within the air and throwing it to his teammate Zaib, who grabbed it simply.
David Willie transforms into Spider-Man
That catch might grow to be the prize of the event. This occurred in 17.3 overs with the sport needing 33 runs off 16 deliveries and the sport evenly poised.
Watch right here:
David Willey, that is unbelievable! 😱
Probably the most outrageous relay catch you have ever seen! pIc.twItter.cahmeters/DFmeters4D4×426
— Vitality T20 Blast (@VitalityBlast) JyouIy 18, 2026
Beneath stress, David Willie grew to become the crew’s Spider-Man. Skipper’s catch gave the crew the victory and a spot within the finals. Overton hit the ball to the boundary line on the earlier ball after which missed it, shedding 5 factors.
Northamptonshire defends low whole
Going into the match, Somerset received the toss and elected to bowl first. Though the Northamptonshire facet misplaced three wickets early on, they received off to an excellent begin with the ball. With Chris Lynn scoring 39 runs and Saif Zaib and Lewis McManus contributing 26 and 21 runs, the crew posted an honest 143/10 in 20 overs.
Somerset received off to a horrible begin in pursuit, with Willie engaged on the primary ball and dismissing Tom Bunton for a golden duck, at one level being lowered to 12/3. He then shaped an excellent partnership with Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Will Smeed, stringing collectively 62 runs to stabilize the collapse.
Smeed scored 49 runs however fell in need of 50 runs with Cole Cudmore scoring 29 runs. After this partnership broke down, Somerset had been unable to deal with the run chase, with David Willie ending with 3/17 and Ben Sanderson additionally selecting out 3/28. Somerset might solely rating 126/9 and misplaced the match by 17 runs.
“For me it is like a purple material in opposition to a bull” – David Willey after his semi-final victory
After profitable the match, David Willey mentioned that he thought the Somerset facet received the match as a result of they had been overconfident and had a low whole factors, which he mentioned motivated him and the crew.
“I feel we have been completely atrocious in opposition to them for 2 and a half video games, and within the final hour and a half it is turned on,” Willie mentioned.
” what? After we went out for the second half, there was a second the place I walked out of there and it seemed like they thought that they had received. That is what it seemed prefer to me, and it was like a purple rag to the bulls to me.”
“Coming from the outdated city of Northampton, I do not like that. It actually energized me and once I get energized I normally play my greatest cricket, so it was very satisfying.”
