ECB confirm Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup fixtures

• Champions Notts Outlaws visit Worcestershire Rapids on 9 June to start Vitality Blast
• Vitality Blast returns to 14-game group-stage format with Edgbaston to host Finals Day on 18 September
• Royal London Cup returns to schedule from 22 July with final to be staged at Trent Bridge on 19 August
• Fixtures for women’s Regional 50 over and T20 competitions to be announced soon
• National Counties to play First-Class Counties ahead of Royal London Cup

This summer’s Vitality Blast will be kick-started by champions Notts Outlaws when they begin their title defence away to 2018 winners Worcestershire Rapids in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

The Royal London Cup will return this summer, following a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the schedule for the women’s Regional 50 over and T20 competitions will be announced shortly.

The Vitality Blast is set to begin on 9 June with the tournament returning to a 14-match group-stage format with the First-Class Counties split into traditional North and South groups.

Sky Sports is scheduled to broadcast a match on each of the first four days of the Vitality Blast, when there is a London derby between Middlesex and Surrey on the opening Friday night before the ‘el clasicoast’ clash between Sussex Sharks and Hampshire two days later.

Lancashire Lightning and Yorkshire Vikings will meet at Emirates Old Trafford on the penultimate day of the group stage and another derby clash between Somerset and Gloucestershire highlights the final day.

Vitality Blast Finals Day, which is a sell out after last summer’s ticket holders were given the option to roll their tickets over, will be staged at Edgbaston on 18 September.

The Royal London Cup final is set to be staged at Trent Bridge on 19 August with Somerset aiming to defend the title they won at Lord’s in 2019.

All Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup fixtures will be available via BBC Local Radio stations with extensive coverage also on 5 Live Sports Extra.

The men’s 50-over competition will be preceded with 20 matches between First-Class Counties and National Counties from 20-22 July.

Women’s domestic cricket is set for a memorable summer with the staging of the Regional 50 over and T20 competitions in addition to the launch of The Hundred.

Forty-one female players have signed professional domestic contracts ahead of the summer to further establish the elite pathway for female cricketers.

ECB Managing Director of County Cricket, Neil Snowball, said: “The stage is set for an exciting and important summer of domestic cricket for the First-Class Counties and the women’s regional teams.

“I know how much county members and supporters eagerly anticipate the release of fixtures and I am pleased that we have been able to plan a complete schedule for men’s and women’s cricket.

“The Vitality Blast has established itself as a much-loved tournament while the return of the Royal London Cup, alongside the remodelled County Championship for this season, will be warmly welcomed as we all look forward to the summer.

“I am also delighted that we will shortly release the schedule for the women’s Regional 50 over and T20 competitions. These competitions will not only showcase the deepening pool of talent in women’s cricket, but also further strengthen the professional pathway for our female players.”

The health and safety of anyone attending matches this summer will remain the priority of the ECB and the First-Class Counties.

The ECB continues to work closely with Government, and other sports, as it plans ways to safely welcome supporters back to venues across England and Wales this summer.

To sync this summer's domestic fixtures automatically to the calendar of your mobile phone and digital devices, click on this link: http://ql.e-c.al/DomesticFixtures

ENDS

Editor’s Notes:

Fixtures for the Vitality Blast, Royal London Cup and the 50-over matches between the First-Class Counties and National Counties are available to download in the below links.

Please contact Matt Somerford (matt.somerford@ecb.co.uk) if you required the fixtures in a different format.

Vitality Blast

2021 Vitality Blast Groups

North: Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Yorkshire Vikings, Notts Outlaws, Worcestershire Rapids, Birmingham Bears, Derbyshire Falcons, Leicestershire Foxes, Northamptonshire Steelbacks.

South: Hampshire, Sussex Sharks, Kent Spitfires, Essex Eagles, Middlesex, Surrey, Glamorgan, Somerset, Gloucestershire.

Group Stage

The Group Stage is set to run from 9 June – 18 July.

Knockout Stage

Quarter-finals: 24-27 August. Finals Day: 18 September. All knockout stage matches will have a reserve day assigned.

Royal London Cup

2021 Royal London Groups

Group A: Essex, Worcestershire, Sussex, Middlesex, Kent, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire

Group B: Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Yorkshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset.

The groups for the Royal London Cup were randomly drawn. The order that they were drawn appears in the above list and has determined the home and away ties.

Example: The first team in the Group will play at home to the second, third, fourth and fifth teams drawn, and away to sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. This continues – another example is the team drawn seventh; this team will play at home to teams drawn eighth, ninth, first, second, and away to teams drawn third, fourth, fifth, sixth.

Group Stage

The Group Stage is set to run from 22 July – 12 August

Knockout Stage

Quarter-finals: 14 August; Semi-Finals: 17 August. Final: 19 August at Trent Bridge.

National Counties

The First-Class County matches against the National Counties will not have List A status.