Skipper Willey says there's a lot for Steelbacks to learn from Somerset defeat

And he believes the experience of playing in such a high-profile clash in front of a sell-out County Ground is going to stand the younger Steelbacks players in the team in good stead going into the 2025 Blast campaign.

A 5,000-plus crowd packed into Wantage Road for the quarter-final, which was also beamed live across the nation and beyond on Sky Sports, and they were treated to a run-fest, with 22 sixes being clubbed to all parts of the ground.

Somerset posted a very testing 215 for three after being asked to bat, with the Northants bowlers struggling to contain Tom Banton (75) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (63), with spinners Ashton Agar and Freddie Heldreich taking particular punishment.

Willey then top-scored with 57 as the Steelbacks made a gutsy response, but they fell short on 198 for five and the club's white ball campaign is now over.

"At the halfway point it is a good score, whenever you get 200-plus in T20 cricket you think you have done well," said Willey.

"But it is a good pitch here and the ball can race away quickly and be very difficult to defend.

"We knew somebody, or the team as a collective, we were going to have to play well.

"But I felt I just couldn't quite get going just when I needed to, but the boys who came in played some brilliant cameos and kept us there or thereabouts.

"For a fairly inexperienced group, for us toplay like that against a very good side is promising."

The Steelbacks went into the game without the injured Ravi Bopara and the unavailable overseas pair of Matt Breetzke and Sikandar Raza, and when Willey was asked if he was proud of how his weakened team performed, he said: "Yeah, absolutely.

"I think we have 15 fit, but that probably includes two that probably wouldn't have otherwise played.

"It was the first game in the comp for some guys and to come and play in front of a packed crowd on Sky against a very, very strong side, there are going to be some great learnings there.

"Hopefully we can build on that for next year."