NatWest t20 Blast

NatWest t20 Blast

Countries	England  Wales
Administrator	ECB
Format	Twenty20
First tournament	2014
Tournament format	Group stage and knockout
Number of teams	18
Current champion	Northamptonshire Steelbacks (2nd title)
TV	Sky Sports
Website	ecb.co.uk
2016 NatWest t20 Blast

The NatWest T20 Blast is a Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales run by the ECB from 2014. The league consists of the 18 first-class county teams divided into two divisions of nine teams each. This setup, which was first announced in November 2013, replaced the Friends Life t20 competition as the main domestic Twenty20 competition in England and Wales.^[1]

History

The NatWest T20 Blast is the latest twenty-over competition featuring county teams from England and Wales.

Twenty20 Cup

The first official Twenty20 matches were played on 13 June 2003, between the English counties in the Twenty20 Cup. 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 claim the Twenty20 Cup. On 15 July 2004 Middlesex versus Surrey (the first Twenty20 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 the 2009 Twenty20 Cup, the ECB had decided to implement a larger competition for the Twenty20 format of the game. The Twenty20 English Premier League was a proposed cricket league to be run by the ECB. The league was to consist of 18 county teams and two overseas teams divided into two divisions of ten teams each. It was rumoured that the two overseas teams were to be a side fielded by Allen Stanford of the West Indies and the winners of the Indian Premier League.^[2] After the disgrace of Stanford, this tournament was scrapped. The establishment of the Friends Life t20 contributed to the discontinuation of the Pro40 League,^[2] and a second Twenty20 League (a revamped version of the outgoing Twenty20 Cup) to be held in July, August and September, played on Friday evenings.^[3][4] This did not happen, and instead 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 (see 2010 Friends Provident t20). 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 sides, and in 2013 Northamptonshire won their first trophy for two decades.

NatWest t20 Blast

NatWest became the tournament sponsors in 2014, renewing a longstanding relationship the bank has had with the county game. The first year of the tournament saw 700,000 spectators attend the games, the most since the first year.^[5] The tournament was won in 2014 by the Birmingham Bears, Warwickshire's specially-adopted name for the tournament, making it the first time a county trophy had been won by a team using a city name. The current holders of the trophy are Northamptonshire Steelbacks.

Current format

There are 18 clubs competing for the t20 title. These clubs are initially split into 2 divisions (North and South), each containing 9 teams, for the group stage of the competition. During the group stage (from May to July)^[6] each club plays 6 of the other teams in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. They play the other two teams only once, for a total of 14 games each. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a tie or if the match is abandoned. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then net run rate. At the end of the group stage, the top four teams from each group enter the knockout stage.^[7][8]

Finals day

The semi-finals and final of the competition are played consecutively on the same day and at the same ground, at the end of the competition. During finals day, there is a mascot derby, which is a race between mascots representing all 18 counties. Finals day is usually held at Edgbaston.^[9]

Teams

Team	Location	Division	Home ground	Coach	Captain
Birmingham Bears	Birmingham	North	Edgbaston	TBC	Ian Bell
Derbyshire Falcons	Derby	North	County Ground	John Wright	TBC
Durham Jets	Chester-le-Street	North	Riverside Ground	Jon Lewis	TBC
Essex Eagles	Chelmsford	South	County Ground	Chris Silverwood	Ryan ten Doeschate
Glamorgan	Cardiff	South	SWALEC Stadium	Robert Croft	Jacques Rudolph
Gloucestershire	Bristol	South	Bristol County Ground	Richard Dawson	Michael Klinger
Hampshire	Southampton	South	Rose Bowl	Craig White	James Vince
Kent Spitfires	Canterbury	South	St Lawrence Ground	TBC	Sam Northeast
Lancashire Lightning	Manchester	North	Old Trafford	Ashley Giles	Steven Croft
Leicestershire Foxes	Leicester	North	Grace Road	Pierre de Bruyn	Mark Pettini
Middlesex	London	South	Lord's	Richard Scott	Dawid Malan
Northamptonshire Steelbacks	Northampton	North	County Ground	David Ripley	Alex Wakely
Nottinghamshire Outlaws	Nottingham	North	Trent Bridge	Peter Moores	Dan Christian
Somerset	Taunton	South	County Ground	Matthew Maynard	Jim Allenby
Surrey	London	South	The Oval	Michael Di Venuto	Gareth Batty
Sussex Sharks	Hove	South	County Cricket Ground	Mark Davis	Luke Wright
Worcestershire Rapids	Worcester	North	New Road	Steve Rhodes	Joe Leach
Yorkshire Vikings	Leeds	North	Headingley Carnegie	Andrew Gale	Alex Lees

Results

See also: List of the competitive honours won by county cricket clubs in England and Wales

Team	Twenty20 Cup							Friends Life t20				NatWest t20 Blast
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Derbyshire	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp
Durham	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	SF	QF	Grp	QF	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	RU
Essex	Grp	QF	Grp	SF	Grp	SF	Grp	SF	Grp	QF	SF	QF	QF	QF
Glamorgan	Grp	SF	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	QF
Gloucestershire	SF	Grp	Grp	QF	RU	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF
Hampshire	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Won	SF	Won	SF	SF	SF	Grp
Kent	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Won	RU	SF	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp
Lancashire	Grp	SF	RU	Grp	SF	QF	QF	QF	SF	Grp	QF	RU	Won	Grp
Leicestershire	SF	Won	SF	Won	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Won	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp
Middlesex	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Won	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF
Northamptonshire	Grp	Grp	QF	QF	Grp	QF	SF	QF	Grp	Grp	Won	Grp	RU	Won
Nottinghamshire	Grp	Grp	Grp	RU	QF	Grp	Grp	SF	QF	QF	QF	QF	Grp	SF
Somerset	Grp	Grp	Won	Grp	Grp	Grp	RU	RU	RU	SF	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp
Surrey	Won	RU	SF	SF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	RU	SF	Grp	Grp
Sussex	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	SF	Grp	Won	QF	QF	SF	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp
Warwickshire	RU	QF	QF	Grp	QF	QF	QF	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Won	SF	Grp
Worcestershire	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	Grp	QF	QF	Grp
Yorkshire	Grp	Grp	Grp	QF	QF	Grp	Grp	Grp	Grp	RU	Grp	Grp	Grp	SF

Most successful teams

Leicestershire Foxes - 3 wins
Hampshire Royals - 2 wins
Northamptonshire Steelbacks - 2 wins

References

1. "County schedule for 2014 announced". 26 November 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
2. "ECB unveil new Twenty20 tournament". Cricinfo. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
3. "New-look English Twenty20 agreed". BBC. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
4. ECB To Replace Pro40 With EPL Twenty20 Competition
5. "Domestic T20 crowds break 700,000 barrier". ecb.co.uk.
6. "Fixtures & Results - NatWest T20 Blast 2014 in 2014". Retrieved 5 May 2014.
7. "NatWest T20 Blast" (PDF). Retrieved 5 May 2014.
8. "Rules for ECB Competitions" (PDF). Retrieved 5 May 2014.
9. "Behind the scenes at the NatWest t20 Blast launch". 30 April 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.