Counties agree to fixture reduction for 2026 Blast T20 as Women’s Blast will also see reduction from 14 games to 12.
Counties agree to cut in men’s Vitality Blast games for 2026.
As part of a comprehensive reform of English domestic white-ball cricket for both men and women, the men’s Vitality Blast will have 12 group-stage matches instead of 14. A proposed overhaul of men’s first-class cricket has not yet been decided upon, though, and the parties are hoping for a resolution before the end of the month, in time for the County Championship’s resumption in September.
The men’s county T20 competition will move from two groups of nine to three six-team regional groups, as it was during the Covid-affected summer of 2020, after agreements from the necessary two-thirds majority of the 18 Professional County Cricket Clubs (PCCCs) and in cooperation with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).
In addition to playing ten home and away games against the other counties in their group, each county will also play a home and away match against a team from the other two groups. Each group’s top two teams, together with the top two third-place teams, advance to the quarterfinals. Finals Day will be reached by the quarterfinal winners. Before the Hundred begins, in July, the tournament will be finished. It will be played in blocks.
The county-led men’s Domestic Playing Programme (DPP) study made suggestions that led to the reduction in group matches. Although the review’s limited-overs section has been taken into consideration, the PCCCs have not yet decided on a preferred design for the County Championship.
It is said that there are currently three red-ball alternatives available, and there isn’t a clear favourite. To make sure counties know what they are competing for in the last rounds of this season, there is a strong desire, out of necessity, to develop a preferred choice by the end of August.
Division One and Two would be split 12/6, with two groups of six making up the top tier for the most creative. Every Division One team would play two additional games against teams in the opposing group in addition to home and away games. The top two will then compete in the County Championship title final, which is anticipated to take place in mid-September.
“The new group format intensifies the importance of many of these local derbies, and brings the quarter-finals and the iconic Finals’ Day back into July, so improving the sporting and commercial narrative for sponsorship and TV partners, as well as meeting player wellbeing objectives by improving the group-stage schedules and travel demands to allow players to perform at their very best.
“The revamp is part of the current work to further strengthen all our men’s and women’s domestic competitions and on behalf of the PGC, I’d like to express my thanks and appreciation to the counties and to the PCA for their ongoing collaboration on this work, as we progress in the next phase to the Rothesay County Championship and the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.”