Another Year Another Finals - The Lancs Semi
By Grockle
September 13 2025
Here we are again - the last 5 Blast's we have been here and we have only left with the trophy once. This side will not be here again after 2025, the last hurrah with Somerset for some and we are missing some significant players, especially in the bowling area. Being in the first semi final as many will tell you says you have less chance of winning the whole thing. , Well we'll see won't we? Last year we did not expect to get through the Semi, we did and then disappointed in the later game. This year who knows. We got here so we have the ability to leave with silver. No Banton, Meredith or Henry but Migael Pretorius is back on two legs and this side got us here. So Go Boyz!!!!
Blast Finals Day 2025 - Semi Final v Lancashire @ Edgbaston 13 September 2025
And off we go again.
Lancashire face us in the first semi-final at 11 am. The toss was won by the opponents and they have chosen to bowl first so Will Smeed and TKC will be out to start.
The side is;
Smeed, TKC, Abell, Rew (wk), Dickson, Gregory, Green, Goldsworthy, Overton, Pretorius, Ball
It is a big ask for this side and we do not see Bants even though he has yet to play any time for England. Then again it means a number of Lancashire players also are not available. The loss of both Matt Henry and Riley Meredith may be an issue though we got here without Matt and Riley didn't exactly cover himself with glory in the quarter final with 24 off his first over. Miggy P will be rusty but he has been working hard to get here so we wish him well. A final tip at the trophy in white ball colours for Somerset for Ben Green and Sean Dickson who has done us proud in this competition in all of his visitis for us. Hope he goes out on a high.
Jimmy Anderson starts the attack and we take 6 from the first with a boundary off the last one to Will from an inside edge that nearly sent him back to the dressing room. Aspinwall comes in from the other end for the second. He bowls a maiden. The third over is from Baldersone and he has Smeed flailing across the ball and it clatters into his stumps. He goes for 5 from 5 and in comes Tom Abell at 6 for 1. Balderson takes a wicket with the first ball he has bowled in the Blast this season!!!
Tom A gets a thick edge and benefits from a fielding mistake that allows the ball to roll through short third to the back boundary for an off the mark four. TKC gets the score moving as he puts it into the square leg boundary for the first six of the day. 17 for 1 after 3. Anderson takes the 4th before TKC takes another six off Balderson in the 5th and by the end of that we are 34 for 1 with Abell on 12 and TKC on. Lancashire stick with Anderson (who has gone for 11 from his first 2) for the 6th. Abell ramps the ex England man for 6 and then drives him for four to move the score on before the end of the 'Powerplay'. He then goes aerial to move him to 26 but he will go no further as Anderson bowls him with an inside edge for 26 (from 14) at 49 for 2. Tom was looking very smooth and promising but it is not to be in this one.
The next man in is James Rew who will face Blatherwick (great Lancastrian names) in the 7th over. TKC takes a single to move the side to 50. The job is a big one for these 2 who must make the bulk of runs in the first half of this game. TKC pulls for four and he then glances down leg for another.
Aspinwall takes the next as Lancashire vary the delivery, we haven't had any spin yet however. The chunky seamer has only gone for 1 run so far so he is doing his job. His next dlievery is fuller and James doesn't get hold of it with enough and just plops it to the close fielder (Keaton Jennings) to go for 1 from his 4 and it is a disappointing start from the top order with only a small cameo from Abell and some beef from TKC. We are now hoping for another 'masterblaster' performance from Sean Dickson at 63 for 3. He faces 2 wides for his first look at the ball and it is 65 for 3 after 8.
In the 12th Dickson looks to go after Hartley but if you come up the wicket, you have to get your backfoot back in and he doesn't. Very sharp work from Matthew Hurst behind the stumps as well. Dickson is stumped for a run a ball 16 at 93 for 4. In comes Gregory with his county needing a skipper's innings if they are going to progress.
Livingstone brings the slower stuff for the 10th and Dickson moves on to 10 from 10 while his partner has moved to 33 from 27. 78 for 3 after the first 10 as the 'Lightning' go to dual spin with Hartley taking the 11th. Somerset are pretty becalmed at the moemnt and the Lancashire 'press' is doing its job well.
Livingstone takes the 14th and TKC puts him straight into the stand and then goes to 51 from 38 with 2 gourd and 3 sixes. The six also brings up the Somerset 100 - an psychological point in these games. With 6 to go we are on 106 for 4. After the wicket in his last, Hartley will bowl out with the 15th. He misfields to let the batting pair get through - tthere have been a few Lancashire misfields to be honest. He also suffers from a straight six into the Brirmingham end from TKC and he finishes with a dot ball and his four have gone for 24 with the wicket of Dicko.
With 5 to go Somerset have 116 for 4 and must be hoping to push this score up into the 170s as Aspinwall takes the next one. TKC is nearly run out but the dive saves him. Aspinwall has only gone for 5 up to this point and has a wicket as well. Lewis is struggling at the moment, can't get bat on ball or the ball off the stri[p at the moment. Therefore the best thing he can do is get his partner on strike. However, he ramps for four off the last ball of the 16th to move his side to 127 for 4 with 24 balls to go - however that was the first four since the 10th over so we need more of those in the next 4.
Blatherwick returns and is pulled for four off his first. He pulls the second one as well and he steps out and puts it over extra cover for a third consecutive boundary. The fourth is guided over the slip area to the rope but a fielder gets his body in front of the ball and it is only a single. Another single moves the score to 145 for 4 with Gregory on 11 and TKC on 80 from 50 - 18 off that over. TKC's 80 is Somerset's highest individual score in a T20 finals.
Anderson returns and Gregory pulls him high wide and handsome for four, moving the score to 149. A wide takes us to 150. Lewis gets a lot on the next one but it isn't timed well enough and Hartley comes in and takes the catch. He adds 15 from 15 and Ben Green comes out at 150 for 5.
Anderson finishes with 2 for 34 from his 4... not bad for an old man really. 153 for 5 as Balderson takes the penultimate one. TKC dies to a high drive that is too short to a ball that was too full. He goes at 81 for 52 caught by Blatherwick. 154 for 6 as Craig Overton arrives with 10 balls to go. He gets two from his first. 170 must be the target one would imagine. It gets easier as Craig sends the next full toss to the rope and moves us to 160. Unfortunately Ben has to reach a good slower ball abnd doesn't. It reaches Blatherwick and he Green goes for 3 from 5 to a catch.
After 19 we have 161 for 7 and Pretorius is at the crease. Aspinwall takes the last and CrOve takes his first 2 balls for 8. By the 3rd ball we are at 170. 1 ball later we are at 174 as Pretorius opens up with a blast back past the bowler. The next is a full toss and Miggy goes to 10 with a huge straight six and the last ball sees them run a quick 2 and we finish on 182 for 7 with the bowlers Overton and Pretorius taking 28 off 9 balls. Craig finishes with 16 from 6 and Migael has 12 from 3.
Well that IS a score and now they have to defend it. Brilliant from the tail and also brilliant from Tom Kohler-Cadmore with 81 from 52 and 4 sixes in that. They have set out their table and now they need to cover it with wickets!! But it is most definitely GAME ON.
The Reply
Craig starts the attack against Wells and Jennings. Lancashire need 183. He goes for a worrying 15 off the first with Jennings doing most of the damage with 14. Lewis Gregory takes the second and Wells gets in on the action with a four from the second to move the score past 20. However we get some luck from Pretorius brilliance as he takes a superb diving catch to send Wells on his way at 22 for 1. Wells goes for 7 off 4 and Hurst, the new man inside edges a four to take the score to 28 for 1 after 2. The wicket helps but 14 an over is too many.
Craig takes the third and the Lancashire keep pushing on. They move to 35 but the Somerset man comes back and has Hurst plumb LBW for 5 from 3 at 35 for 2. he was very dead. In comes Liam Livingstone and he gets off the mark with two. As the hthird ends Lancashire are 37 for 2. A good one from Lewis moves the score to 41 while Cove takes the 5th. A six from Livingstone moves his side to 50 and the new man to 10.
57 for 2 as Jake comes on to take the 6th and they take him on. He goes for 16 and the opposition move to 73 for 2 in the 'Powerplay'. Ben Green looks to stop the flood of runs with the 7th. He does that job going for only 3. Good bowling.
The 'press' hopefully continues with Lewis Goldsworthy comes on for the 8th. Jennings goes down the wicket but doesn't get enough of it and the angle takes it to TKC who takes the catch to send the bat on his way. &8 for 3 with Jenning leaving for 44 and Jones replacing him. 79 for 3. Well done Lewis Jr!!
Pretorius opens his account with the 9th and Lances need 102 from 11 at the end of it with Goldsworthy being given a second with the 10th. They pull it under 100 to 90 needed at the halfway stage. It is touch and go while Livingstone is there most defintely.
Green takes us into the second half of the game with all to play for. 99 for 3 with 9 to go as the skipper brings himself back on. They run two to take Lancashire to 101. There is an appeal where Livingstone is given out but he thinks he got some bat on it. The review says NO and he has to move on. Livingstone is out for 29 LBW and it is 102 for 4. Shetty is next in. They need 80 from 8 so it is still gettable while Pretorius looks to make it harder bowling to Shetty. They are going over the decision again and again. It does look like there was a gap between bat and ball and whether there was or not the decision is that Livingstone is not there any more so on we go. Liam was not at all happy and the sad thing is that he would not have known either way to be honest because if he didn't hit the ball he did hit his own gear so he will have felt something.
Miggy gives little away and after 13 overs Lancs have 105 for 4. Back comes Jake Ball and he has got the slower delivery working well for him and it is 110 for 4 with 6 overs left. They need 73 from 6 as Green is brought back and gets a wicket first ball. Shetty slaps it into short extra cover and Lewis Gregory pounces with a great two handed catch. Shetty goes for 6 at 110 for 5.
Blatherwick comes in and with very dark clouds over Birmingham he hits a six which is only the third boundary since the 'Powerplay'. With 5 to go Ball bowls with the opposition needing 64 from 30 balls. The DLS may become very important with this as the clouds look massively full of rain. Jake really has his yorker going at the moment as Lancs are only 8 behind on DLS. He finishes his third over with 0 for 28. A good supporting role at the moment. 126 for 5 leaves the Lightning needing 57 from 24 balls. Pretorius is back for the 17th and Jones takes him for six to move the need to 50 from 22. The six was a no ball and the next is also a six free hit so the scores start to come down. The game becomes tighter but in comes Miggy Blatherwick gets a top edge and Overton takes the catch to move it to 142 for 6. Blatherwick goes for 15. Balderson comes in and Pretorius finishes his third with 1 for 22. Jones has 29 from 27 while Balderson is still on 0.
Ball bowls the 18th and they need 39 from 18. The slower ball works again as the man takes the pace off and makes it hard to hit boundaries. He bowls out with 0 for 34 - a good spell from him.
151 arrives and they need 32 from 12. Balderson has 7 from 6 and Jones has 30 from 29. The penultimate bowler is Ben Green (his 4th). Lancashire retire Balderson and send in Hartley who hits his first straight and he is caught by TKC so that strategy hasn't done anything. 152 for 7 (with a retiree) with a decision that made little sense. So they require 31 from 10 as Green sends in full ballsand finishes with an excellent 2 for 21. Real tight bowling.
With an over to go Lancashire ae on 154 for 7 and they need 29 from 6 as Pretorius takes the job. The first is a four down the leg-side. The second is a dot ball. The third is high and Aspinwall is caught at long on by Overton though he doesn't seem to know and they go to 158 for 8. In comes Anderson and after a single he then smacks the ball straight to Craig and that is the game. Lancs are out for 159 . Somerset win by 23 runs.
That was a really good performance with some excellent support bowling from a number of guys. Jake Ball, Lewis Goldsworthy, Ben Green, Migael Pretorius, Lewis Gregory and Craig Overton really did their jobs very well.
TKC held the middle and the back end guys pushed it along but we won with the bowling which was consistently exactly what we needed.
And then it rained!!!!!!
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:18:17:56:07 by Grockle.
Further absentees with the England IT20 squad are Somerset`s Tom Banton and Lancashire`s Phil Salt and Luke Wood, but their 43-year-old veteran of 188 Tests, Sir James Anderson, is definitely on track to open their attack.
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Somerset will chose from this 15-man squad: Smeed, Kohler-Cadmore, Abell, James Rew, Dickson, Lammonby, Gregory, Green, Overton, Goldsworthy, Aldridge, Pretorius, Davey, Leach and Ball.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:13:10:26:25 by Grockle.
Jennings complaining on BBC website about mad schedule causing Salt to miss this. I’d have more sympathy if they hadn’t taken the dirty 100 money. If that wasn’t there, he’d be playing.
[www.bbc.co.uk]
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:13:06:59:23 by Des Platt.
Hope he does well and his ankle holds up
The SKY people are already talking about Lancs as if they have won and all the bits they are showing are Lancashire.
They did this in 2005 so things are looking up because we all know what happened there.
A winning score has to be over 150 one would imagine but we've won with less before here.
You can almost hear the grinding of teeth.
That was an excellent bowling performance
What was that strategy with Hartley? Made no real sense to anyone it seems.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:09:13:13:56:47 by Grockle.
I wouldn’t necessarily say we won because of our fielding but we didn’t miss a single thing whereas Lancs gave us another half a dozen runs from missed stops
I heard recently that Cove has achieved the highest ratio of catches to matches of any non-keeper in the Blast.
As to Livingstone, he may well have got an inside edge; but I saw in the replays no clear evidence (as opposed to the inference on which the commentators relied) which would have entitled the third umpire to have overturned the on-field decision.
Anyway, Lancs didn't need bad decisions from a Third Umpire to lose that game. They managed that all by themselves when they hauled off a set batsman just as he was preparing to have a go at winning the game.
I too found the commentary rather biased, especially all that reference to missing Lancashire players but not a word - in my hearing anyway - that we have lost Banton to feature in matches in which he has hardly featured.
When Cove eventually leaves this earth - and I hope that will not be for many many years - I think his hands should be donated to the museum.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Yep I turned off the SKY blather and found the Five LIve stuff better - but they did insist on talking about player who hardly play for the county when they are available. They seemed to have forgotten that this is not our first choice Blast bowling attack - though they did a damn sight better than some of those who wern't here did in the campaign at certain times. They lost a bunch and we lost a lesser bunch. So what
Can someone also explain to me how Bladerson gets to play in this game if this is the first time he has bowled or batted in the Blast? Was he picked but only fielded in another game? I thought if you hadn't played in the league rounds you could not play in the Finals.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
A lot of bad grapes being thrown at the third umpire, but our fielding was exemplary.
Chris Lynn sees home Hants. in spectacular fashion, so it should be a good final.
Let's bring it home again this year chaps.
Grizzers