Australian speedster Riley Meredith extracted some serious pace in a recent South Group fixture of the Vitality T20 Blast 2025 between Somerset and Essex.  Meredith, who is currently featuring for Somerset this season, produced an annihilating yorker which split the stump in two halves. He subsequently went on to play a crucial role in helping Somerset achieve a commanding 95-run victory, finishing with figures of 2 for 22 in his two-over spell.

The extraordinary scene unfolded during the third over of the Essex run chase. Tasked with chasing a mammoth total of 226, Essex had to hit the ground running right from the get-go. As a result, the batters had to adopt a fearless and risk-taking mindset. Essex opener Michael Pepper was facing up to Meredith, and as fate would have it, the yorker turned out to be too good for him. 

In an attempt to take Meredith downtown, Pepper backed away to the legside and exposed all three stumps. The opener was comprehensively deceived in the air as the ball shaped away from him at ferocious pace. In the end, Pepper not only lost his leg stump, but also saw his leg stump split into two. While one piece of the stump remained rooted to the ground, the other flew off after making contact with the ball and landed behind the wicket. 

The reaction of the on-air commentators was priceless, with one reportedly stating that the broken portion of the stump needs to be captured in a frame. Evidently, the broken stump was replaced by another backup stump, which was available at the time of the game. But occurrences like these have been far and between in modern-day cricket. 

See also: Vitality Blast: WOR vs NOT Prediction, Who will win today?

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Previously, in the first innings, Somerset managed to put on a show with the bat. Tom Kohler-Cadmore quickly raced out of the blocks, slamming a rapid 90 (39). He was complimented by Will Smeed and Sean Dickson, who registered formidable scores of 32 (20) and 28* (17) to take Somerset to a galloping 225-6.

With a massive score on the board, Somerset responded well with the ball. Essex were thoroughly outplayed by the pace attack of Somerset. Matt Henry achieved figures of 4 wickets for 21 runs, while Craig Overton contributed with 2 wickets for 32 runs, effectively dismantling the middle and lower order. Additionally, Meredith concluded with impressive figures of 2 wickets for 22 runs.