Sadler left 'speechless' as Steelbacks break Old Trafford hoodoo to stun Lightning

The victory means Northants will entertain Somerset in the last eight on Thursday, September 5 at the County Ground.

After their 11-run win over Birmingham Bears on Thursday, Northants travelled to the north west knowing a win would be enough to secure a Wantage Road date in the last eight for the first time since 2015, but looked to be on the back foot when Lightning posted a hefty 201 for nine at Old Trafford.

But a brutal innings of 76 from just 31 balls from South African Matthew Breetzke ensured the Steelbacks were always ahead of the testing rate, and despite a flurry of late wickets, they got home eight balls to spare.

Ricardo Vasconcelos hit 36 from 23 balls, Ravi Bopara 36 from 24 and David Willey 26 from 19 as the Steelbacks secured a first T20 win at the eighth attempt at Old Trafford, having lost on all seven of their previous visits.

It was a remarkable performance and result, and Sadler said: “I’m speechless, it’s an incredible feeling.

"Last night was the big one. It took a lot of pressure off us when we beat Birmingham and it meant we could play with freedom tonight.

“Some of our batters have been crying out for a flat pitch and they looked like they enjoyed batting out there.

"And I’m so pleased for everyone at the club – the playing staff, the coaching staff, the medical staff, the office staff – everyone.

“We haven’t won anything yet but I think we can enjoy this moment. I thought 180-190 was about par but I thought they batted well and I thought we bowled and fielded well, too.

“We were confident at half-time but we knew we had to take advantage of the powerplay and we certainly did that.

“Matthew Breetzke’s been magnificent for us, he’s played with huge responsibility and he’s also been a big factor in our T20 cricket this year.”

Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings admitted Breetzke's innings was the difference between the sides, as he said: “Breetzke played out of his skin.

"I haven’t quite seen hitting like that, especially up top, in a long time. He played superbly well.

“So from that point they were ahead of the game so he put them in a massively good position.

“You just have to take in he is playing well, and you keep trying different things, keep going to different options and hopefully one just goes to hand.

“It was that sort of game where if somebody does have a day like that they can take the game away from you which actually makes it exciting.

“I thought it was a really good game and it was an outstanding surface all the way through and he just played superbly well.

“That’s the way we’ve tried to do things this year, regardless of how many wickets we’ve lost we want to keep going and try post ourselves a score. We got 200 on a good surface where we never really felt like we had got going.”