The current Vitality Blast logo | |
| Countries | England & Wales |
|---|---|
| Administrator | England and Wales Cricket Board |
| Format | Twenty20 |
| First edition | 2003 |
| Latest edition | 2025 |
| Next edition | 2026 |
| Tournament format | Group stage andknockout |
| Number of teams | 18 |
| Current champion | Somerset (3rd title) |
| Most successful | Leicestershire Foxes (3 titles) Hampshire Hawks (3 titles) Somerset (3 titles) |
| TV | Sky Sports Fox Cricket (Australia) BeIN Sports 3 EN (MENA). -Sony Sports Network (India) |
| Website | ECB Vitality Blast |
| Season | |
|---|---|
| 2003 •2004 •2005 •2006 •2007 •2008 •2009 •2010 •2011 •2012 •2013 •2014 •2015 •2016 •2017 •2018 •2019 •2020 •2021 •2022 •2023 •2024 •2025 |
TheT20 Blast, also known as theVitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professionalTwenty20cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by theEngland and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is the oldest domestic T20 league in the world. It is one of the top-level Twenty20 league in the world. Vitality Blast 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 theTwenty20 Cup from 2003 to 2009, theFriends Provident t20 andFriends Life t20 from 2010 to 2013, and theNatwest t20 Blast from 2014 to 2017. The competition has been sponsored by insurance companyVitality since 2018 and is known as theVitality Blast.[1][2][3]
When theBenson & Hedges Cup ended in 2002, theECB 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.[4] 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.[5]
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 songDreadlock Holiday by10cc.
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 atLord's) attracted a crowd of 26,500, the largest attendance for any county cricket game other than a one-day final since 1953.[6] 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.[7][8] The proposal was influenced by the success of theIndian Premier League and byAllen Stanford who had organised theStanford Super Series in the Caribbean. After the collapse of Stanford's series, the proposals were scrapped. Instead of a modified 40 over league, theClydesdale Bank 40 was implemented.
The Friends Provident T20 (renamed the FriendsLife T20 after just one season) was introduced in2010. 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 sawLeicestershire andHampshire becoming the most successful sides, and in 2013Northants won their first trophy for two decades.
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.[9] The tournament was won in 2014 by theBirmingham 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 wereNotts Outlaws.
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.[2] 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.
In 2018, Vitality commissioned a range of trophies covering the domestic, international and recreational game, from London trophy maker,Thomas Lyte. The trophy is 60cm in height and features cricket stumps and a large cricket ball as part of the design.[10]
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.[citation needed]
The two semi-finals and the final are played on one finals day atEdgbaston in September. In 2020, due to the delay in the start of the season because of theCOVID-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).[11]
North Group[edit] | South Group[edit]
|
Finals day has been held annually towards the end of the English cricket season.
| Team | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derbyshire | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | SF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp |
| Durham | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | SF | QF | Gp | QF | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | RU | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | QF |
| Essex | Gp | QF | Gp | SF | Gp | SF | Gp | SF | Gp | QF | SF | QF | QF | QF | Gp | Gp | Won | Gp | Gp | QF | RU | Gp | Gp |
| Glamorgan | Gp | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | QF | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp |
| Gloucestershire | SF | Gp | Gp | QF | RU | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | QF | QF | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Won | Gp |
| Hampshire | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Won | SF | Won | SF | SF | SF | Gp | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | SF | Won | SF | Gp | RU |
| Kent | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Won | RU | SF | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | QF | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF |
| Lancashire | Gp | SF | RU | Gp | SF | QF | QF | QF | SF | Gp | QF | RU | Won | Gp | Gp | SF | QF | SF | QF | RU | QF | QF | SF |
| Leicestershire | SF | Won | SF | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp |
| Middlesex | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp |
| Northamptonshire | Gp | Gp | QF | QF | Gp | QF | SF | QF | Gp | Gp | Won | Gp | RU | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | SF |
| Nottinghamshire | Gp | Gp | Gp | RU | QF | Gp | Gp | SF | QF | QF | QF | QF | Gp | SF | Won | QF | SF | Won | QF | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp |
| Somerset | Gp | Gp | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | RU | RU | RU | SF | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | SF | Gp | Gp | RU | SF | Won | RU | Won |
| Surrey | Won | RU | SF | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | RU | SF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | RU | Gp | QF | SF | SF | QF |
| Sussex | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | SF | Gp | Won | QF | QF | SF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | RU | QF | QF | SF | Gp | Gp | SF | Gp |
| Worcestershire | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | QF | QF | Gp | Gp | Won | RU | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp |
| Yorkshire | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | RU | Gp | Gp | Gp | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp |
| Warwickshire | RU | QF | QF | Gp | QF | QF | QF | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Won | SF | Gp | RU | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | QF | QF | QF | QF |
Stuart Robertson was the marketing manager of the ECB when Twenty20 was launched. [...] His extensive research suggested women and children would only watch cricket if it was in a shorter format, and started in the late afternoon. [...] He also gave two presentations to the Professional Cricket Association's annual general meeting. [...] But it was only just enough to sway the counties, who voted 11-7 in favour of Twenty20.