Twenty20 Cup

Twenty20 Cup
Countries	England Wales
Administrator	ECB
Format	Twenty20
First tournament	2003
Last tournament	2009
Tournament format	Group stages, then knockout
Number of teams	18
Most successful	Leicestershire Foxes (2 titles)
Most runs	Jonathan Trott (1,564)[1]
Most wickets	Yasir Arafat (64)[2]

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

In 2010, it has been replaced by Friends Provident t20 as the domestic Twenty20 competition.

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 game's popularity with the younger generation in response to dwindling 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 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.^[3] 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

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:

Results

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

Surrey won the inaugural 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.

Records

Centuries in the Twenty20 Cup

See also

• Twenty20 Cricket
• Friends Life t20

References

External links

• ECB site
• cricket20

v t e Champions League Twenty20 Editions 2008 (canceled) 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Squads 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Lists Records and statistics Qualifying tournaments Current Big Bash League Caribbean Twenty20 (2010–13) Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup (2012–13) HRV Cup Indian Premier League Ram Slam T20 Challenge Super 4's Twenty20 (2013) Former Sri Lanka Premier League (2012) Friends Life t20 (2011–12) Inter-Provincial Twenty20 (2009–11) KFC Twenty20 Big Bash (2009–11) Twenty20 Cup (2009) Stanford 20/20 (2009)