The 2020 Vitality Blast was the eighteenth edition of the

T20 Blast The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is t ...

currently known as the Vitality Blast, a professional

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

league being played in England and Wales. run by the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

(ECB), which was branded as the Vitality Blast due to the tournament's sponsorship deal. On 12 August 2020, following a delay due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the ECB confirmed the fixtures for the tournament. In the North Group, the Notts Outlaws and Lancashire Lightning qualified for the quarter-finals. In the Central Group,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

became the first team to qualify. The South Group saw

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and Kent Spitfires qualify. Following the conclusion of the group stage, the Northants Steelbacks, the Leicestershire Foxes and the Sussex Sharks had also confirmed their spots in the quarter-finals. Surrey, Lancashire Lightning and Gloucestershire all won their quarter-final matches to progress to Finals Day. The match between the Leicestershire Foxes and the Notts Outlaws finished in a tie. The Notts Outlaws advanced to Finals Day after they had scored more runs in the powerplay. For the first time in the tournament's history, Finals Day was washed out, with all the matches rescheduled to be played on 4 October 2020, the designated reserve day. If no play was possible on the reserve day, the ECB announced that the matches would have been played on 7 October 2020. Play was delayed further on the reserve day due to rain, and as a result the two semi-finals were reduced to 11 overs per side, and the final was shortened to 16 overs per side. Surrey beat Gloucestershire by six wickets in the first semi-final, and the Notts Outlaws beat Lancashire Lightning by five wickets in the second semi-final. In the final, the Notts Outlaws beat Surrey by six wickets to win the tournament and their second domestic T20 title.

Background

The tournament was scheduled to start on 28 May 2020, and finish on 5 September 2020. However, on 24 April 2020, due to the

, the

(ECB) confirmed that no professional cricket would be played in England before 1 July 2020. In late May 2020, the ECB looked at the scheduling of domestic cricket for the summer, with the t20 Blast likely to go ahead, including the traditional Final's Day at

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

. The ECB also confirmed that no domestic cricket would be played before 1 August 2020. On 29 June 2020, the ECB confirmed that the county cricket season would begin on 1 August 2020, with the format agreed in early July. On 7 July 2020, the majority of counties voted to start the tournament on 27 August 2020, with Finals Day taking place at

on 3 October 2020.

Teams

The teams were placed into the following groups. The top two teams in each group progressed to the quarter-finals, where they were joined by the two best third-placed teams: * North Group: Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Notts Outlaws, Yorkshire Vikings * Central Group: Birmingham Bears,

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

, Northants Steelbacks,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, Worcestershire Rapids * South Group: Essex Eagles,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, Kent Spitfires,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, Sussex Sharks

Results and standings

North Group

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Central Group

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

South Group

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- * ''Surrey's score of 218 was a record high total for a T20 match at Lord's'' ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Background

Teams

Results and standings

North Group

Central Group

South Group

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

Finals Day

Semi-finals

Final

References

External links