In a bizarre turn of events in the T20 Blast, Salt and Pepper caused a social media stir after getting each other out. Lancashire’s Phil Salt and Essex’s Michael Pepper added some flavour to the quarter-final contest between the two teams on Friday evening.
Salt, who is part of the England squad for the ongoing white-ball series against India, was released for the knockout game and made an instant impression, first with the gloves behind the stumps and then with the bat. Salt first stumped Pepper off the bowling of left-arm spinner Tom Hartley. While it was an important wicket for Lancashire as Pepper had scored quick 36 runs, it definitely sent the commentators and the fans into a frenzy.
If that wasn’t enough, Pepper got revenge on Salt, or as they say, the match ran ‘out’ of Salt. Salt gave Lancashire a dashing start with a quickfire 27 and was looking dangerous to take the game away from Essex before Pepper on the boundary pulled off an absolute blinder.
Salt swept leg-spinner, Matt Critchley, between deep square-leg and mid-wicket and Pepper timed his jump to perfection to hold on to a brilliant catch. However, he lost his balance but he had the presence of mind to make sure that he threw the ball in time to the other fielder and Ben Allison grabbed a easy catch. Many debated if Pepper’s foot touched the boundary rope while throwing the ball in, however, the replays showed that while the foot was agonisingly close to the rope and the umpire gave it out.
As for the match, Lancashire made a mockery of a 162-run target as they chased it down with 26 balls to spare. Steven Croft and skipper Dane Vilas scored half-centuries while Tim David finished the formalities to win it for their side and set up a semi-final clash with Yorkshire.
