MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire Lightning v Somerset, Vitality Blast semi-final
Lancashire are gunning for glory 10 years on from their first and only Blast title to date.
Lancashire Lightning v Somerset
Vitality Blast Finals Day, Semi-Final
Saturday September 13, 2025, 11am
Edgbaston
This has been an impressive campaign from the Red Rose, who finished top of the North Group and then breezed beyond Kent Spitfires in last Saturday’s quarter-final at Emirates Old Trafford, a game in which Liam Livingstone starred.
Lancashire’s 10th Finals Day appearance will see them tackle a Somerset side who finished second in the South Group before beating the Bears in a thrilling quarter-final at Taunton on Saturday chasing 191.
Somerset were 158-6 after 18 overs and needed 17 off the last five balls. Sean Dickson was their hero with a stunning middle-order 71 not out off 26 balls.
Somerset are two-time champions of this competition, triumphing in 2005 and 2023. They beat the Lightning in the final of the first one at the Oval.
Northamptonshire Steelbacks face Hampshire Hawks in the afternoon semi-final, starting at 2.30pm, before the evening final at 6.45pm.
When Lancashire won this title in 2015, they faced Northamptonshire in the final.
Both Lancashire and Somerset have had some overseas frustrations ahead of this semi-final, with Australians Chris Green, Ashton Turner and Riley Meredith all unavailable.
Green is at the Caribbean Premier League, Turner and Meredith have returned home to prepare for their forthcoming domestic campaigns.
Opposition
Somerset have been one of the strongest forces in this competition in recent years.
They have reached the last five Finals Days, including this. They were runners-up in 2021 and last year, beaten semi-finalists in 2022 and winners in 2023.
They beat Essex Eagles in 2023 and lost to West Country rivals Gloucestershire last year.
Given they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Saturday’s quarter-final against the Bears, they will have that extra spring in their step.
Ironically, the hero of that game - the aforementioned Sean Dickson - is leaving for Glamorgan at the end of the season. That was announced earlier this week.
Coached by Boltonian Jason Kerr, they are captained by all-rounder Lewis Gregory.
Opener Will Smeed is their leading run-scorer in this season’s Blast with 521 from 15 innings - the third best haul in the competition.
Australian fast bowler Riley Meredith - unavailable for this showpiece - is the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 28.
Somerset have fielded three overseas players in this season’s competition; Meredith, New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry and Migael Pretorius. Only the latter will be available.
Opposition player to watch
A number of the Somerset players involved this year were part of the triumphant side in 2023, so they will turn up at Edgbaston with good memories.
Opening batter and gun fielder Tom Kohler-Cadmore particularly so given the fact he took a stunning one-handed catch diving to his left at short third to remove Essex all-rounder Daniel Sams off Matt Henry’s bowling to seal victory.
Kohler-Cadmore is an aggressive batter who isn’t quite a T20 specialist, but it’s certainly his most productive format.
A right-hander who is a regular on the global franchise circuit, he has formed a destructive opening partnership with Will Smeed, the competition’s leading run-scorer with 521 runs.
Kohler-Cadmore has totalled 453 runs this campaign.
Previous meeting
This will be the fourth meeting between these two counties in T20 cricket, and the second at Finals Day.
All meetings have come in the knockout stages, with Somerset winning all three previous meetings, including via a bowl out in the 2009 quarter-final at Emirates Old Trafford.
The last meeting saw Somerset win the 2021 quarter-final at Taunton, by seven wickets chasing 185.
Lightning captain Dane Vilas top-scored with a middle-order 42 that day - August 26, 2021 - to underpin a 184-9 total which also included 35 for Josh Bohannon opening the batting.
Experienced left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe impressed with 4-27 for the hosts, who then slipped to 12-2 in reply thanks to wickets for the seam of Tom Bailey and Danny Lamb.
Unfortunately, the hosts recovered, with Tom Abell hitting a destructive 78 not out off 45 balls to seal victory in the 19th over.
What they said
Sir James Anderson is back at Finals Day.
“Yeah, it's been a while, but I'm just really excited,” he smiled at the prospect of representing the county he loves in another showpiece.
Swing bowling legend Anderson’s availability for Lancashire may have been limited down the years, but the 43-year-old will - come Saturday evening - have played in five Blast Finals Days down the years.
The previous four came in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2014.
“It’s always a great day,” he said.
“The reason I carried on playing this year for Lancashire is to try and win something, to try and do something special with the group. I love playing cricket. I've loved my time playing white-ball cricket again.
“It just feels like everyone’s chipping in.
“I think we've played some really good cricket throughout the tournament and probably deserve our place in Finals Day.”
Anderson wasn’t part of the only Blast win for the Red Rose in 2015, but he did play a key part in winning the County Championship back in 2011.
“It’d be huge,” he said of the prospect of triumphing in the Blast.
“I've not been around as much as I'd have liked in the last 20 years.
“I owe Lancashire a huge amount.
“The fact that they brought me through the system and turned me into the bowler that I became - or helped on that journey - it feels like now I'm in a position where I can give something back.
“I'm still bowling well enough to try and help the team win games.
“And hopefully I can have an impact on the players in the dressing room as well with my experience.
“So, I feel like it's been great from that point of view.
“There'd be nothing better for me than lifting that trophy.”
How’s Stat!
Liam Livingstone will, on Saturday, become the third Lancashire player to play 100 T20 games for the county.
The hero of Saturday’s quarter-final win over Kent with two wickets and then 85 not out follows his interim head coach Steven Croft (231) and former left-arm spinner Stephen Parry (117) to that notable milestone.
Livingstone is also chasing a notable T20 double having won in the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bangalore back in June.
The other semi-final
Hampshire will face Lancashire’s North Group rivals Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the afternoon at Edgbaston.
Hampshire beat Durham at the Riverside in their quarter-final last Friday night. A couple of nights earlier, the Steelbacks had stunned Surrey at the Oval thanks largely to a stunning Ravi Bopara century.
Should the Steelbacks and the Lightning win through their semis, it would be a repeat of the 2015 final.
Lancashire would start to get some positive flashbacks if that happened!