# T20 Blast

The T20 Blast, officially 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. 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 the 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. The competition has been sponsored by insurance company Vitality since 2018 and is known as the Vitality Blast.

## 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. 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 sides, 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. 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 2023 Vitality Blast, was the 20th season of the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales. The tournament started on 20 May 2023 and ended on 15 July 2023, when Somerset 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.

## 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.
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).

### Three division format
## Winners

Finals day has been held annually towards the end of the English cricket season.
| Season | Winner | Winning Margin | Runner-up | Venue | City | Source |
| 2003 | Surrey Lions | Won by 9 wickets | Warwickshire Bears | Trent Bridge | Nottingham | Scorecard |
| 2004 | Leicestershire Foxes | Won by 7 wickets | Surrey Lions | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2005 | Somerset Sabres | Won by 7 wickets | Lancashire Lightning | The Oval | London | Scorecard |
| 2006 | Leicestershire Foxes | Won by 4 runs | Notts Outlaws | Trent Bridge | Nottingham | Scorecard |
| 2007 | Kent Spitfires | Won by 4 wickets | Gloucestershire Gladiators | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2008 | Middlesex Crusaders | Won by 3 runs | Kent Spitfires | Rose Bowl | Southampton | Scorecard |
| 2009 | Sussex Sharks | Won by 63 runs | Somerset Sabres | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2010 | Hampshire Royals | Won by losing fewer wickets (scores level) | Somerset | Rose Bowl | Southampton | Scorecard |
| 2011 | Leicestershire Foxes | Won by 18 runs | Somerset | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2012 | Hampshire Royals | Won by 10 runs | Yorkshire Carnegie | Sophia Gardens | Cardiff | Scorecard |
| 2013 | Northants Steelbacks | Won by 102 runs (D/L) | Surrey | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2014 | Birmingham Bears | Won by 4 runs | Lancashire Lightning | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2015 | Lancashire Lightning | Won by 13 runs | Northants Steelbacks | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2016 | Northants Steelbacks | Won by 4 wickets | Durham Jets | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2017 | Notts Outlaws | Won by 22 runs | Birmingham Bears | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2018 | Worcestershire Rapids | Won by 5 wickets | Sussex Sharks | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2019 | Essex Eagles | Won by 4 wickets | Worcestershire Rapids | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2020 | Notts Outlaws | Won by 6 wickets | Surrey | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2021 | Kent Spitfires | Won by 25 runs | Somerset | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2022 | Hampshire Hawks | Won by 1 run | Lancashire Lightning | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2023 | Somerset | Won by 14 runs | Essex Eagles | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2024 | Gloucestershire | Won by 8 wickets | Somerset | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |
| 2025 | | | | Edgbaston | Birmingham | Scorecard |

## Performance by county

| 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 | Gp |
| 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 | Gp |
| Kent | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Won | RU | SF | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | QF | Won | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp |
| Lancashire | Gp | SF | RU | Gp | SF | QF | QF | QF | SF | Gp | QF | RU | Won | Gp | Gp | SF | QF | SF | QF | RU | QF | QF | Gp |
| 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 | Gp |
| 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 | Gp |
| Surrey | Won | RU | SF | SF | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | Gp | RU | SF | Gp | Gp | QF | Gp | Gp | RU | Gp | QF | SF | SF | Gp |
| 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 | Gp |