Lancashire's decision to retire out a struggling George Balderson backfired during their 2025 T20 Blast semi-final match against Somerset on Saturday (September 13).
Balderson came in to bat after Lancashire slipped to 142-6, still needing 41 from 20 balls in their 183-run chase. He struggled to tee off, scoring just seven runs off the six balls he faced. As the required run rate climbed, Lancashire needed 32 off the last two overs. Balderson struggled particularly against the slower balls from Jake Ball in the 18th over.
After the first ball of the 19th went for a single, bringing Balderson back on strike, Lancashire made the drastic decision to retire him out. They instead brought in England Test spinner Tom Hartley. The call didn't pay off, as Hartley was dismissed off the very first ball he faced. Ben Green, bowling around the wicket, sent down a full toss that the left-hander mistimed. Tom Kohler-Cadmore ran in from long-on and dove forward to take a stunning catch.
George Balderson has been retired out by Lancashire Lightning
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) September 13, 2025
Tom Hartley was the new batter... and he was caught first ball! 😨 pic.twitter.com/wvWBqQvoxr
Just two more runs came from that over, leaving Lancashire needing 29 from the final six balls. They were eventually bowled out for 159 on the penultimate ball, losing by 23 runs.
Somerset will now play the winners of the second semi-final between Northamptonshire and Hampshire in the final later in the day. Their win was set up by Kohler-Cadmore’s 52-ball 81, which helped them post 182-7. With 534 runs at 33.37 and 166.87, he is the third-highest run-getter this year.
Has there been any other recent 'retired out' instance?
There have been numerous instances of batters being retired out in T20s this year. The most recent example before Saturday came last week when the Trinbago Knight Riders decided to swap out a struggling Keacy Carty (29 off 34) for Andre Russell in a CPL 2025 match against Guyana Amazon Warriors. Russell managed only an unbeaten three off three balls, and TKR lost the match by three wickets.
In August, Roston Chase retired out for a 12-ball 15 in the unsuccessful 190-run chase in the decider against Pakistan. This was the 12th instance of a batter retiring out in a men's T20I, and the first in a match featuring two Full Members.
Going further back to July, Texas Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis was retired out for 91 in a match against the Seattle Orcas in MLC 2025. In-form Donovan Ferreira was brought in to cash in on the final over, but managed just a run-a-ball three as well. Despite this, the Super Kings went on to post 188-4 and secured a 51-run win.
Just days earlier, in a rain-curtailed five-a-side game against the Washington Freedom, Ferreira was also brought in as a replacement after Daryl Mitchell retired out on six runs from five balls. Ferreira then smashed seven boundaries in his 37 not out from just nine balls, a knock which proved to be the decisive factor in his team’s 43-run win.
Perhaps the most astonishing instance happened in a Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier match in May when all ten of the UAE's batters retired out against Qatar.
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