The Vitality blast is England’s T20 professional domestic competition played every year. This tournament was formed by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003.
In the initial seasons, the T20 blast didn’t have much popularity as the people of England were more interested in the longer version of cricket (ODI and Test). It took a while for this league to gain crowds in the stand.
In 2004, the match between Middlesex and Surrey held at Lord’s saw a record breaking audience of 26,500 which was the highest attendee in a county match since 1953.
The T20 blast tournament was remodeled and renamed several times for sponsorship reasons. T20 blast was changed to Friends Provident T20 in 2009, then to Natwest T20 Blast in 2014 and finally was changed to Vitality Blast T20. Health insurance company called Vitality has signed a four-year deal to become the title sponsor of the T20 blast.
Unlike most other leagues, this league is not owned by any franchise owner instead domestic counties run their respective teams. Other leagues in the world had changed / upgraded their domestic first-class teams to franchises (for example in BBL, New South Wales Blues was changed to Sydney Sixers), however England have maintained all their 18 county teams since the 1st season of the Vitality blast.
The vision of this league is to attract the younger audience especially the kids, who spend their summer vacations by watching a compressed version of one-day cricket called the T20 cricket.
In the 2018 season of Vitality blast, the brand value of the league was 450 million US dollars. As the standard of living in the UK is high, therefore the advertisement rates were sold at higher prices.
The previous edition (2020) of Vitality Blast was a truncated season and was played behind closed doors in a bio secure environment due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Team Participating in the Vitality Blast T20
A total of 18 teams representing their first-class counties compete in the vitality blast. The teams are grouped into either two divisions (Northern and Southern) or three divisions (Northern, Central and Southern Division).
The previous edition of Vitality Blast was played in the two division format. The Surrey Lions are the inaugural champions of T20 blast and Notts Outlaws are the defending champions of T20 blast.
North Group Teams :
1. Durham Cricket –
Captain – Scott Borthwick
Home Ground – Emirates Riverside
Titles – Nil
Previous season (2020) – Finished 4th in the league stage
2. Derbyshire Falcons –
Captain – Billy Godleman
Home venue – County Cricket ground, Derby
Titles – Nil
Previous season (2020) – finished 6th in points table
3. Yorkshire Vikings –
Captain – Steven Patterson
Home venue – Yorkshire Cricket Ground
Titles – Nil
Previous season (2020) – finished 5th in the points table
4. Leicestershire Foxes
Captain – Colin Ackermann
Home venue – Grace Road
Titles – 3 (2004, 2006, 2011)
Previous season (2020) – quarter-finalist
5. Lancashire Lighting –
Captain – Dane Vilas
Home venue – Old Trafford Cricket ground
Titles – 1 (2015)
Previous season (2020) – Semi-finalist
6. Notts Outlaws (Nottinghamshire) –
Captain – Dan Christian
Home venue – Trent Bridge
Titles – 2 (2017,2020)
Previous season (2020) – Champions
Central Group Teams:
1. Steelbacks (Northamptonshire)
Captain – Adam Rossington
Home venue – Campbell Park Cricket Ground
Titles – 2 (2013,2016)
Previous season (2020) – quarter-finalist
2. Gloucestershire
Captain – Jack Taylor
Home venue – Bristol county ground
Titles – Nil
Previous season (2020) – Semi finalist
3. Somerset
Captain –Lewis Gregory
Home venue – Somerset Cricket Ground
Titles – 1 (2005)
Previous season (2020) – finished 4th in group stage
4. Glamorgan
Captain – Chris Cooke
Home venue – Sophia Gardens
Titles – Nil
Previous season (2020) – finished 5th in group stage
5. Birmingham Bears (Warwickshire)
Captain – Will Rhodes
Home venue – Edgbaston Stadium
Titles – 1 (2014)
Previous season (2020) – finished 3rd in group stage
6. Worcestershire Rapids
Captain – Moeen Ali
Home venue – New Road
Titles – 1 (2018)
Previous season (2020) – finished 6th in the league stage
South Group Teams:
1. Kent Spitfires
Captain – Sam Billings
Home venue – St Lawrence Cricket Ground
Titles – 1 (2007)
Previous season – (2020)
2. Sussex Sharks
Captain – Luke Wright
Home venue – 1st Central County Ground
Titles – 1 (2009)
Previous season (2020) – quarterfinalist
3. Middlesex
Captain – Dawid Malan
Home venue – Lord’s
Titles – 1 (2008)
Previous season (2020) – finished 3rd in group stage
4. Surrey
Captain – Jade Dernbach
Home venue – Kia Oval
Titles – 1 (2003)
Previous season (2020) – Finalist
5. Hampshire
Captain – James Vince
Home venue – The Ages Bowl
Titles – 1 (2010)
Previous season (2020) – finished 6th in group stage
6. Essex Eagles
Captain – Simon Harmer
Home venue – County Ground, Chelmsford
Titles – 1 (2019)
Previous season (2020) – finished 5th in group stage
Format –
The matches are played in group stages and knockout format. The number of matches per team and total number of group stage matches depends on the division of groups. The higher the number of groups, the higher the number of matches played per team.
The top four teams from each group will qualify for the quarter finals. The winners of quarter finals move to the semi final and then to the final. If the teams are divided into 2 groups (North and South Division) , then each team plays 14 matches which sums up to 133 group stage matches.
If the teams are divided into 3 groups (North, South and Central), then each team plays 10 matches and a total 97 of group stages are played. The top-3 teams from north and south group along with top-2 teams from the central group will qualify for the quarter finals. The winners of quarter finals move to the semi final and then to the final.
Team Records –
| EDITION | WINNER | RUNNER-UP | YEAR |
| 1 | Surrey Lions | Warwickshire Bears | 2003 |
| 2 | Leicestershire Foxes | Surrey Lion | 2004 |
| 3 | Somerset Sabres | Lancashire Lightning | 2005 |
| 4 | Leicestershire Foxes | Notts Outlaws | 2006 |
| 5 | Kent Spitfires | Gloucestershire Gladiators | 2007 |
| 6 | Middlesex Crusaders | Kent Spitfires | 2008 |
| 7 | Sussex Sharks | Somerset Sabres | 2009 |
| 8 | Hampshire Royals | Somerset | 2010 |
| 9 | Leicestershire Foxes | Somerset | 2011 |
| 10 | Hampshire Royals | Yorkshire Carnegie | 2012 |
| 11 | Northants Steelbacks | Surrey | 2013 |
| 12 | Birmingham Bears | Lancashire Lightning | 2014 |
| 13 | Lancashire Lightning | Northants Steelbacks | 2015 |
| 14 | Northants Steelbacks | Durham Jets | 2016 |
| 15 | Notts Outlaws | Birmingham Bears | 2017 |
| 16 | Worcestershire Rapids | Sussex Sharks | 2018 |
| 17 | Essex Eagles | Worcestershire Rapids | 2019 |
| 18 | Notts Outlaws | Surrey | 2020 |
Player Records –
Top-10 Run Getters
Luke Wright who has been an an integral part of the Sussex since 2004
has scored the most runs in the history Vitality Blast. Averaging 33.04, he scored 4498 at a healthy strike rate of 148.8.
4 out top-10 players belong to Northamptonshire county, which clearly shows that Northamptonshire is a batting dominant side.
| PLAYER | RUNS |
| Luke Wright [Sussex] | 4498 |
| Joe Denly [Kent] | 4079 |
| Riki Wessels [Northamptonshire] | 4035 |
| James Vince [Hampshire] | 3826 |
| Steven Croft [Lancashire] | 3680 |
| Samit Patel [Nottinghamshire] | 3602 |
| Ravi Bopara [Essex] | 3527 |
| Alex Hales [Nottinghamshire] | 3503 |
| Chris Nash [Nottinghamshire] | 3465 |
| 10. Phil Mustard [Durham] | 3442 |
Top-10 Wicket takers
Danny Briggs of Hampshire is the leading wicket taker in the history of Vitality Blast T20. He has taken 172 wickets averaging around 21 at a good economy rate of 7.17.
| PLAYER | WICKETS |
| Danny Briggs [Hampshire] | 172 |
| Samit Patel [Nottinghamshire] | 165 |
| Yasir Arafat [Hampshire] | 156 |
| Azhar Mahmood [Kent] | 152 |
| Harry Gurney [Leicestershire] | 148 |
| Gareth Batty [Surrey] | 147 |
| Jeetan Patel [Birmingham Bears] | 141 |
| Tom Smith [Gloucestershire] | 137 |
| Chris Wood [Hampshire] | 130 |
| Graham Wagg [Derbyshire] | 129 |