David Willey revealed that Graeme Swann was the inspiration for his rocket-themed celebration, after the Trent Rockets captain took three wickets in a comprehensive victory over Manchester Originals at Trent Bridge.

Willey maintained his impressive record as an opening bowler in the game’s shorter formats, removing Ben McKinney, Jos Buttler and Rachin Ravindra in the space of the opening 26 balls.

The 35-year-old bowled 20 of the game’s opening 30 deliveries, and he felt that his side’s performance in the early exchanges set the tone for a comfortable win.

“It’s always nice to get early poles, especially against these guys,” he told the BBC.

“Getting early poles was really important, and sometimes you get the feeling you should go again."

“Swanny [Graeme Swann, part of the Rockets' coaching staff] has been by himself doing the rocket, so I thought I would."

This is Willey’s first year of captaincy in The Hundred, and the Northants all-rounder feels it has been a positive experience.

"I’m loving it,” he said.

“I’m enjoying how Andy [Flower, Head Coach] goes about it. We have some good combinations with bat and ball, and it makes my job easier.

“We’ve got a great group. It almost felt like we’d played a lot together before when we came together at the start of the competition.

“I think that reflects in the way we’re going about things, we feel like a real unit and we’ve got the rewards for that.”

"Everyone has played a lot of franchise cricket now. We are in a nice position, and we have a massive game on Thursday (against table-topping Oval Invincibles)."

Rehan Ahmed went on to play a crucial hand with the bat, hammering 45 runs from 35 balls as the Rockets overhauled their target of 99 with 26 balls to spare.

“We talked about intent a lot at the start of the competition and Rehan epitomises that,” said Willey.

“He’s a tricky one to bowl at. You’re not quite sure what he’s going to do.

“When it comes off like it did tonight he can take the game away from the opposition.”