The T20 Blast, also known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 and comprises 18 teams, with 17 in England and 1 in Wales. The competition has been known by a variety of names due to commercial sponsorship. It was known as the Twenty20 Cup from 2003 to 2009, the Friends Provident t20 and Friends Life t20 from 2010 to 2013, and the Natwest t20 Blast from 2014 to 2017.
History When the Benson & Hedges Cup ended in 2002, the ECB sought another one-day competition to fill with the younger generation in response to dwindling crowds and reduced sponsorship. The Board wanted to deliver fast-paced, exciting cricket accessible to fans who were put off by the longer versions of the game. Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB, proposed a 20-over per innings game to county chairmen in 2001, and they voted 11–7 in favour of adopting the new format.
The first Twenty20 Cup was held in 2003 and was marketed with the slogan "I don't like cricket, I love it" – a line from the cricket-themed pop song Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc.
Twenty20 Cup The first official Twenty20 Cup matches were played on 13 June 2003. The first season of Twenty20 in England was a success, with the Surrey Lions defeating the Warwickshire Bears by nine wickets in the final to win the first Twenty20 Cup Final. On 15 July 2004 Middlesex versus Surrey (the first Twenty20 Cup game to be held at Lord's) attracted a crowd of 26,500, the largest attendance for any county cricket game other than a one-day final since 1953. The tournament saw six different winners in its seven years.
By the end of 2009, the ECB had decided to implement a larger competition for the T20 format of the game. The Twenty20 English Premier League was a proposed cricket league to be run by the ECB consisting of 18 county teams and two overseas teams divided into two divisions with promotion and relegation.New-look English Twenty20 agreed, BBC Sport, 16 July 2008; Retrieved 17 March 2018ECB unveils new Twenty20 tournament, CricInfo, 16 July 2008; Retrieved 17 March 2018 The proposal was influenced by the success of the Indian Premier League and by Allen Stanford who had organised the Stanford Super Series in the Caribbean. After the collapse of Stanford's series, the proposals were scrapped. Instead of a modified 40 over league, the Clydesdale Bank 40 was implemented.
Friends Provident/FriendsLife T20 The Friends Provident T20 (renamed the FriendsLife T20 after just one season) was introduced in 2010. The competition initially divided the eighteen counties into North and South groups, before reverting to the previous model of three divisions of six teams. This period of Twenty20 cricket in England and Wales saw Leicestershire and Hampshire becoming the most successful teams, and in 2013 Northants won their first trophy for two decades.
NatWest T20 Blast NatWest became the tournament sponsors in 2014, renewing the bank's longstanding relationship with the county game. The first year of the tournament saw 700,000 spectators attend the games, the most in the competition's history.Freddie Wilde Blast promises to break 1m barrier, CricInfo, 14 May 2015; Retrieved 17 March 2018 The tournament was won in 2014 by the Birmingham Bears, Warwickshire County Cricket Club's name for the purposes of Twenty20 cricket, making it the first time a county trophy had been won by a team using a city name. The final victors of this branding of the tournament in 2017 were Notts Outlaws.
Vitality Blast Vitality became the tournament sponsors in 2018, signing an initial deal to sponsor the competition for four years, with the competition becoming known as the Vitality Blast. The most recent iteration, the 2024 Vitality Blast, was the 21st season of the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales. The tournament started on 30 May 2024 and ended on 14 September 2024, when Gloucestershire were crowned the champions.
There are 18 teams that compete in the tournament, divided into two groups of nine.
Each team plays 14 group games, playing six teams in their group twice (both home and away) and two teams once (one at home, the other away).
The top four teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals, with the four winners progressing to finals day.
Trophy In 2018, Vitality commissioned a range of trophies covering the domestic, international and recreational game, from London trophy maker, Thomas Lyte. The trophy is 60 cm in height and features cricket stumps and a large cricket ball as part of the design.
Competition format The 18 first-class counties compete for the title, initially playing in two or three geographical divisions, the number varying across the years. In 2018, matches were moved to be played in a block during July and August with the aim of attracting large crowds during the school summer holidays. In seasons with three divisions the top two teams in each division and the two best third place teams qualify for the playoff stage, in seasons with two divisions the top four teams in each division qualify for the playoff stage, with a set of quarter-finals leaving four teams in the competition.
In 2026, the ECB chose to do a three division format where there was a North Group, a South Group and a Midlands Group. Each group had 6 teams. The top two from every division went through and the two best 3rd place teams from the three groups. Gloucestershire and Essex got through over Lancashire for the 3rd place teams because they finished on 28 points while Lancashire finished on 26.
The two semi-finals and the final are played on one finals day at Edgbaston in September. In 2020, due to the delay in the start of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, matches started on 27 August in a three division format, with the quarter finals played on 1 October and the semi-finals and finals on 4 October (postponed due to rain on the third).
Two division format
North Group Derbyshire Falcons Durham Lancashire Lightning Leicestershire Foxes Northamptonshire Steelbacks Notts Outlaws (Nottinghamshire) Warwickshire Bears Worcestershire Rapids Yorkshire
South Group Essex Glamorgan Gloucestershire Hampshire Hawks Kent Spitfires Middlesex Somerset Surrey Sussex Sharks
Three division format
Northern Division Derbyshire Falcons Durham Lancashire Lightning Leicestershire Foxes Notts Outlaws (Nottinghamshire) Yorkshire
Central Division Glamorgan Gloucestershire Northamptonshire Steelbacks Somerset Warwickshire Bears Worcestershire Rapids
Southern Division Essex Hampshire Hawks Kent Spitfires Middlesex Surrey Sussex Sharks
Winners 2003 - 2026
Finals day has been held annually towards the end of the English cricket season.
SeasonWinnerWinning marginRunner-upVenueCitySource2003Surrey LionsWon by 9 wicketsWarwickshire BearsTrent BridgeNottinghamScorecard2004Leicestershire FoxesWon by 7 wicketsSurrey LionsEdgbastonBirminghamScorecard2005Somerset SabresWon by 7 wicketsLancashire LightningThe OvalLondonScorecard2006Leicestershire FoxesWon by 4 runsNotts OutlawsTrent BridgeNottinghamScorecard2007Kent SpitfiresWon by 4 wicketsGloucestershire GladiatorsEdgbastonBirminghamScorecard2008Middlesex CrusadersWon by 3 runsKent SpitfiresRose BowlSouthamptonScorecard2009Sussex SharksWon by 63 runsSomerset SabresEdgbastonBirminghamScorecard2010Hampshire RoyalsWon by losing fewer wickets (scores level)SomersetRose BowlSouthamptonScorecard2011Leicestershire FoxesWon by 18 runsSomersetEdgbastonBirminghamScorecard2012Hampshire RoyalsWon by 10 runsYorkshire CarnegieSophia GardensCardiffScorecard2013Northants SteelbacksWon by 102 runs (D/L)SurreyEdgbastonBirminghamScorecard2014Birmingham BearsWon by 4 runsLancashire LightningScorecard2015Lancashire LightningWon by 13 runsNorthants SteelbacksScorecard2016Northants SteelbacksWon by 4 wicketsDurham JetsScorecard2017Notts OutlawsWon by 22 runsBirmingham BearsScorecard2018Worcestershire RapidsWon by 5 wicketsSussex SharksScorecard2019Essex EaglesWon by 4 wicketsWorcestershire Rapids Scorecard2020Notts OutlawsWon by 6 wicketsSurrey Scorecard2021Kent SpitfiresWon by 25 runsSomersetScorecard2022Hampshire HawksWon by 1 runLancashire LightningScorecard2023SomersetWon by 14 runsEssexScorecard2024GloucestershireWon by 8 wicketsSomersetScorecard2025SomersetWon by 6 wicketsHampshire HawksScorecard2026Won by 14 runsScorecard
Performance by county Team03 04 05 06 07 08 0910 11 12 13 14 15 16 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