The men’s T20 Vitality Blast will be reduced from 14 to 12 group-stage games from 2026 to streamline the competition and ease the workload on players in the latest reshuffle of English domestic cricket.
The reduction in the number of games will allow the competition to be played in a block, with Finals Day held before the Hundred starts in August, rather than going into hibernation during the summer holidays before stumbling back to life in September.
The hope is that this will enable counties to retain overseas players for the entire competition period, play games on more sellable days of the week and give players more rest between matches. It will also greatly reduce the number of hated back-to-back fixtures.
The 18 first-class counties voted through the change in line with the recommendations of the county-led men’s Domestic Playing programme review and in harmony with the wishes of the players’ union, the Professional Cricketers’ Association.
The counties will be divided into three regional groups of six – with counties playing each other home and away, plus one home game and one away game against a county outside their group – giving each county an opportunity to play every other on a rolling basis.
Attendance figures for the Blast have fallen sharply since a peak of 950,000 tickets sold in 2019, knocked first by Covid and then by the introduction of the Hundred in 2021. The review’s steering group, made up of six county chief executives, plus ECB and PCA representatives, believes that rejigging the fixtures alone will not be enough to reinvigorate the Blast and more innovative moves – such as the introduction of a central investment fund – will be needed.
Where there has previously been widespread county opposition to any reduction in the number of lucrative Blast games, the Hundred windfall – non-Hundred-host counties are due to receive just over £24m, host counties £18m – has given the counties more wriggle room.
There is not yet any agreement on the future of the County Championship, but the mood music suggests against any drastic change, despite the PCA’s plea that a reduction from 14 to 12 games is “the only reasonable option”. A decision will be made by the counties before the Championship resumes for three final rounds in September.
The number of games in the top tier of the Women’s Blast competition will also fall from 14 to 12, as Yorkshire move up to Tier One, with each county playing six home and six away games. The Tier Two teams will come together into one group, playing each other home and away.