Agreements have been reached to alter the formats of the Vitality Blast and the women’s Metro Bank One Day Cup from the 2026 season.
The Professional County Cricket Clubs (PCCs) have reached agreements to alter the formats of the Vitality Blast men’s competition, the Vitality Blast women’s competitions (Tiers 1 & 2) and the Metro Bank One Day Cup women’s competitions (Tiers 1 & 2) from next season.
Men’s Vitality Blast
The required majority of the eighteen PCCs voted to reduce the number of Vitality Blast men’s competition group-stage matches from 14 to 12 from next season.
The reduction follows the recommendations of the county-led men’s Domestic Playing Programme (DPP) review, which will also see the Vitality Blast men’s competition revert to three groups of six counties, with the quarter-finals and men’s Vitality Blast Finals Day played before The Hundred.
Each county will play the other counties in their group on a home-and-away basis – a total of 10 matches. They will additionally play one home game against a county from outside their group and one away game against a county from outside their group.
This will allow counties to play against all 18 counties, over time, on a rolling basis during the group stage of the competition.
The Groups
Group A: Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Notts Outlaws, Yorkshire.
Group B: Bears, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Somerset, Worcestershire Rapids.
Group C: Essex, Hampshire Hawks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex Sharks.
The top two teams in each group plus the best two third-placed teams will progress to the quarter-finals. The winners of the quarter-finals will progress to men’s Vitality Blast Finals Day.
On the changes to the Vitality Blast structure, Anu Mohindru, Chair of Essex Cricket, said: “The change in structure naturally brings some disappointment for us, as it means fewer matches.
“The competition is an important revenue stream for the Club, and with our regular sold-out fixtures, fewer games inevitably means reduced income.
“However, the decision was made through a vote of all 18 first-class counties, and we respect the outcome to reduce the group stage from 14 to 12 matches.
“We will look for ways to turn this change into a positive, as playing the Blast in one block should create a more consistent schedule for all stakeholders and benefit players’ wellbeing.
“Next season, the Club will still host 12 Blast matches across both the Men’s and Women’s competitions, and we know we will continue to enjoy the fantastic support of our fans.”
Women’s Competitions
Yorkshire will move from Tier 2 into Tier 1 from the 2026 season which will mean an even split of nine counties in each of those two tiers next season.
The total number of Tier 1 group-stage matches across the women’s Vitality Blast and women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup is retained at 28. The split of Tier 1 group-stage matches will change with 12 women’s Vitality Blast matches (down from 14) and 16 women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup matches (up from 14).
The Tier 2 group-stage matches across both white-ball competitions will be reduced from 17 to 16 group-stage matches, with each county to play each other once in each competition during the group phase.
Women’s Vitality Blast
The required majority of the 18 PCCs voted to reduce the number of Vitality Blast women’s competition (Tier 1) group-stage matches from 14 to 12 for next season.
The vote was not tied to the outcome of the vote on the Vitality Blast men’s competition. It was also agreed that the women’s Vitality Blast Finals Day (Tier 1) will be expanded to include two semi-finals and a final.
The Vitality Blast Women’s League 2 (Tier 2) will maintain eight group-stage matches, but move to a single group – changing from North and South Groups in 2025 – with a three-team Finals Day.
Women’s Metro Bank One Day Cup
The group stage of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition (Tier 1) will increase to 16 matches, which did not require a vote of the PCCs. It was additionally agreed to remove the two semi-finals and instead play a 2nd v 3rd Eliminator before the final.
The Metro Bank One-Day Cup Women’s League 2 (Tier 2) will be reduced from nine to eight group-stage games with each county playing each other once.
