David Willey admitted it was a 'magical' moment as he got to lift the Vitality Blast trophy at Edgbaston on Saturday night.

The Northants Steelbacks skipper led the celebrations after his team produced two exceptional fielding and bowling performances to see off Somerset in the semi-final, and then Hampshire Hawks in the final.

Defending 143 in the opener, the Steelbacks restricted reigning champions Somerset to 126 for nine, and then in the final, Hawks were bowled out for 155, chasing Northants' 169 all out, which was built around Ricardo Vasconcelos’s superb 88 from 59 balls.

It meant Willey became only the fifth Northants captain to life a major honour, following in the footsteps of Mushtaq Mohammad (Gillette Cup 1976), Jim Watts (Benson & Hedges Cup, 1980), Allan Lamb (NatWest Trophy) and Alex Wakely (T20 Blast 2013 & 2016).

And for a man who is Northampton born and bred, it was a very special moment.

Asked how it felt to finally lead his team to silverware, four years after returning to the club from Yorkshire, Willey admitted: "It's funny actually, I feel a bit like a postman delivering a letter. I feel like that's done now, so I can relax!

"But I am absolutely delighted, it is such a great day, and to get this far and to get across the line is great.

"It was actually even better that the final went down to the wire and it was a tight game, because it just pulls all the emotion out of you, and it is magical.

"The trophy is coming back with us, and it's amazing.”

And he added: "It is so special when you win trophies.

"I have been playing for 17 years or something now, and it is hard to win trophies, so when you do it is important you celebrate it."

The Steelbacks certainly put their supporters through the wringer at Edgbaston, with both matches going down to the final over.

Against Hampshire, the Steelbacks suffered a collapse with the bat, losing their final seven wickets for 21 runs, but Willey felt their 169 total was still a good one.

Asked about what he thought at the time a par total would be, the skipper admitted: "Probably around where we ended up actually.

"There was a stage where we thought we could have got 15 or 20 more, and we just stumbled at the back end.

"But we knew again, that with taking wickets throughout, it wasn't going to be that easy to bat against scoreboard pressure.

"The dew did come in which actually made it a little easier to bat on at the back end (of Hampshire's innings), but we had done a lot of the heavy lifting and a lot of the damage was done and the boys then closed it out.

"I am absolutely delighted."

Willey will now turn his attention to The Hundred which started this week, and this year he will play for London Spirt, having joined the Lord’s-based side from Trent Rockets.

The 36-year-old is one of seven Steelbacks players who will be involved in the franchise tournament, with the others being Louis Kimber (Trent Rockets), George Scrimshaw (Manchester Super Giants), James Sales (Manchester Super Giants), Ben Sanderson (Trent Rockets), Saif Zaib (Southern Brave) and Calvin Harrison (Trent Rockets).