T20 Blast

T20 Blast

File:Twenty20cuplogo2.png
Countries	England Wales
Administrator	ECB
Format	Twenty20
First edition	2003
Tournament format	Group stages, then knockout
Number of teams	18
Current champion	Middlesex Crusaders
Most successful	Leicestershire Foxes (2 titles)
Qualification	Twenty20 Champions League, Stanford Super Series
Most runs	Darren Maddy (1,263)
Most wickets	Nayan Doshi (61)

The Twenty20 Cup is a cricket competition for English and Welsh county clubs.

History

Main article: Twenty20 § History

When the Benson & Hedges Cup ended in 2002, the England and Wales Cricket Board needed another one day competition to fill its place. The cricketing authorities were looking to boost the games popularity with the younger generation in response to dwindelling crowds and reduced sponsorship. It was intended to deliver fast paced, exciting cricket accessible to thousands of fans who were put off by the longer versions of the game.

The first Twenty20 Cup was held in 2003 and was marketed with the slogan “I don’t like cricket, I love it”, (itself a line from the popular cricket themed pop song Dreadlock Holiday) by 10cc. It was won by the Surrey Lions.

Competition Format

The Twenty20 format, twenty overs for each team, means a game can be completed in under three hours, making it more palatable for children and families than longer matches. Many games also feature additional activities for the spectators in order to provide more entertainment, such as paddling pools, bouncy castles, themed areas, bowling speed-guns, and prizes for catching a 6 ball. On Finals Day, there is also a performance by a major pop act - Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, Girls Aloud and Sugababes have performed on past Finals Days, and Mutya Buena performed on the 2007 Finals Day at Edgbaston.

Many games are played in twilight, again to enhance family spectator appeal and to allow attendance after work and school. They also feature numerous musical 'stings' for exciting events, such as the dismissal of a batsman, or the hitting of a boundary.

Rules

Most of the standard rules of cricket are retained, but the emphasis is on fast scoring and fast moving cricket. There are limits on fielding positions, and the boundaries are shorter, to encourage aggressive batting. Batsmen get a Free Hit if the bowler bowls a "No Ball" by overstepping the popping crease. There is also a strict 1 minute 30 second time limit on the amount of time a new batsman has to reach the crease. In the event of the scores being equal at the end of the overs of knockout matches, there is a "bowl-off", similar to a penalty shoot out, except the bowlers have to bowl at unguarded stumps. The winners are the team with the most hits.

As of the 2008 season, each county team will play 10 games, playing each team in the group once home and once away. Teams receive two points for a win, none for a defeat and one for a tie or a no result if the game can't be completed. This stage takes around three weeks to complete, with teams playing several ties each week. The top two from each division along with the two best third place finishers qualify with for the quarter-finals, with the group winners and best second place team having home ties. The winners of the quarter-finals go through to "Finals Day", a bumper day of Twenty20 when the semi-finals and final of the competition take place on the same day at the same venue.

Teams

File:T20HistoricalPerformance.png

A chart showing each county's historical performance in the Twenty20 cup

The first stage involves the eighteen counties being split into three "divisions", based on their location in Great Britain.

Each division contains six counties and are divided up as follows:

Northern Division

Derbyshire Phantoms
Durham Dynamos
Leicestershire Foxes
Lancashire Lightning
Nottinghamshire Outlaws
Yorkshire Carnegie

Southern Division

Essex Eagles
Hampshire Hawks
Kent Spitfires
Middlesex Crusaders
Surrey Brown Caps
Sussex Sharks

Mid / West / Wales Division

Glamorgan Dragons
Gloucestershire Gladiators
Northamptonshire Steelbacks
Somerset Sabres
Warwickshire Bears
Worcestershire Royals

Results

The event has been held annually towards the end of the cricket season in England since 2003.

Surrey Lions won the inaugral event against Warwickshire Bears, in front of a sell out crowd at Trent Bridge, in July 2003.

Leicestershire Foxes are the only team to have won the competition more than once.

Year	Final
	Held at	Winners	Runners-up	Result
2003	Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on July 19th 2003	Surrey Lions 119 for 1 (10.5 overs)	Warwickshire Bears 115 (18.1 overs)	Surrey won by 9 wickets [1]
2004	Edgbaston, Birmingham, on August 7th 2004	Leicestershire Foxes 169 for 3 (19.1 overs)	Surrey Lions 168 for 6 (20 overs)	Leicestershire won by 7 wickets [2]
2005 Details	The Oval, London, on July 30th 2005	Somerset Sabres 118 for 3 (14.1 overs)	Lancashire Lightning 114 for 8 (16 overs)	Somerset won by 7 wickets [3] Match reduced to 16 overs per innings due to rain
2006	Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on August 12th 2006	Leicestershire Foxes 177 for 2 (20 overs)	Nottinghamshire Outlaws 173 for 8 (20 overs)	Leicestershire won by 4 runs [4]
2007 Details	Edgbaston, Birmingham, on August 4th 2007	Kent Spitfires 147 for 6 (19.3 overs)	Gloucestershire Gladiators 146 for 8 (20 overs)	Kent won by 4 wickets [5]
2008 Details	The Rose Bowl, Southampton, on July 26th 2008	Middlesex Crusaders 187 for 6 (20.0 overs)	Kent Spitfires 184 for 5 (20.0 overs)	Middlesex won by 3 runs [6]

Records

Centuries in the Twenty20 Cup

Rank	Player	Team	Runs	Balls	Year	Against	4s	6s
1	Graham Napier	Essex Eagles	152*	58	2008	Sussex Sharks	10	16
2	Cameron White	Somerset Sabres	141*	70	2006	Worcestershire Royals	14	6
3	Cameron White	Somerset Sabres	116*	53	2006	Gloucestershire Gladiators	7	9
4	Ian Thomas	Glamorgan Dragons	116*	57	2004	Somerset Sabres	11	7
5	Graeme Hick	Worcestershire Royals	116*	65	2004	Northamptonshire Steelbacks	11	6
6	Andrew Symonds	Kent Spitfires	112	43	2004	Middlesex Crusaders	18	3
7	Lance Klusener	Northamptonshire Steelbacks	111*	59	2007	Worcestershire Royals	10	6
8	Darren Maddy	Leicestershire Foxes	111	60	2004	Yorkshire Phoenix	8	6
9	Graeme Hick	Worcestershire Royals	110	49	2007	Northamptonshire Steelbacks	10	8
10	Ian Harvey	Yorkshire Phoenix	109	55	2005	Derbyshire Phantoms	9	7
11	Ian Harvey	Yorkshire Phoenix	108*	59	2004	Lancashire Lightning	16	2
12	Marcus Trescothick	Somerset Sabres	107	57	2008	Worcestershire Royals	15	3
13	Ben Smith	Worcestershire Royals	105	45	2005	Glamorgan Dragons	12	6
14	Graeme Smith	Somerset Sabres	105	56	2005	Northamptonshire Steelbacks	9	5
15	Luke Wright	Sussex Sharks	103	45	2007	Kent Spitfires	11	6
16	Dawid Malan	Middlesex Crusaders	103	54	2008	Lancashire Lightning	10	6
17	Lou Vincent	Lancashire Lightning	102*	63	2008	Derbyshire Phantoms	11	3
18	Murray Goodwin	Sussex Sharks	102*	65	2007	Essex Eagles	9	5
19	Stuart Law	Lancashire Lightning	101	58	2005	Yorkshire Phoenix	12	3
20	Ian Harvey	Gloucestershire Gladiators	100*	50	2003	Warwickshire Bears	13	4
21	Mal Loye	Lancashire Lightning	100	55	2005	Durham Dynamos	10	5
22	Hamish Marshall	Gloucestershire Gladiators	100	55	2007	Worcestershire Royals	10	6
23	Ronnie Irani	Essex Eagles	100*	61	2006	Sussex Sharks	13	2
24	Greg Smith	Derbyshire Phantoms	100*	62	2008	Yorkshire Carnegie	12	2

See also

• England - English Premier League
• Pakistan - Pakistan Super League
• South Africa - Standard Bank Pro 20 Series
• Sri Lanka - Inter-Provincial Twenty20
• Australia - KFC Twenty20 Big Bash
• New Zealand - State Twenty20
• West Indies - Stanford 20/20
• India - Indian Cricket League
• India - Indian Premier League
• Zimbabwe - Metropolitan Bank Twenty20
• Kenya - National Elite League Twenty20
• Canada - Scotiabank National T20 Championship

External links

• ECB site
• cricket20
• Twenty20 Scores and Results
• twenty20 matches,series,tournaments coverage