The 2021 Vitality Blast was the nineteenth 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 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 ...

, 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 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), that was branded as the Vitality Blast due to the tournament's sponsorship deal. The Notts Outlaws were the defending champions. In June 2021,

Samit Patel Samit Rohit Patel (born 30 November 1984) is an English cricketer, and has represented England national team. He is a right-handed batsman and a slow left-arm bowler, he plays first-class cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Patel made ...

, playing for the Notts Outlaws, became the first English player to do the double in T20 cricket of taking 250 wickets and scoring 5,000 runs. In July 2021,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

's match against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in the

2021 County Championship The 2021 County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 121st cricket County Championship season in England and Wales. For the first phase of the tournament, the teams were split into ...

was abandoned before the start of day two due to a positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

case in the squad. As a result, Derbyshire's final two T20 Blast group-stage games, against the Northants Steelbacks and the Yorkshire Vikings, were also cancelled. Therefore, the North Group qualifications were decided based on an average points per completed match basis. Following matches completed on 9 July 2021, the Notts Outlaws were the first team to qualify from the North Group for the quarter-finals. On the same day, they were joined by the Kent Spitfires from the South Group. After the matches completed on 16 July 2021, the Yorkshire Vikings from the North Group had qualified, along with

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 ...

from the South Group. On 17 July 2021, Lancashire Lightning won the

Roses Match The Roses Match refers to any game of cricket played between Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Lancashire County Cricket Club. Yorkshire's emblem is the white rose, while Lancashire's is the red rose. The associations go back to the Wars of the R ...

against the Yorkshire Vikings to qualify from the North Group. On the final day of group stage matches, the Birmingham Bears from the North Group, and the Sussex Sharks and the Hampshire Hawks from the South Group had all qualified for the quarter-finals. In the first quarter-final match, the Sussex Sharks beat the Yorkshire Vikings to become the first team to reach

Finals Day Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. The Hampshire Hawks reached the Finals Day, after they knocked out defending champions the Notts Outlaws in the second quarter-final match. Somerset became the third team to reach Finals Day, after they defeated the Lancashire Lightning in their quarter-final match. In the last quarter-final match, the Kent Spitfires beat the Birmingham Bears to progress to the Finals Day. It was the first time in the tournament's history that all the teams taking part in Finals Day had come from the South Group. On Finals Day, Somerset beat Hampshire Hawks by two wickets in the first semi-final to advance into the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In the second semi-final, Kent Spitfires beat the Sussex Sharks by 21 runs to advance. It was the first time that Kent had reached the domestic T20 final since the 2008 tournament. In the final, the Kent Spitfires beat Somerset by 25 runs to win the tournament and their second domestic T20 title.

Format

Each county played seven matches at home, and seven matches away, with the top four counties in each group progressing to the

Quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. The top two ranked counties from each group will host the Quarter-finals, to play against the lower-seeded team in other group.

Teams

The teams were placed into the following groups: * North Group: Birmingham Bears, Derbyshire Falcons,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Northants Steelbacks, Notts Outlaws, Worcestershire Rapids, Yorkshire Vikings * South Group: Essex Eagles,

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 ...

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 ...

, Hampshire Hawks, 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 ...

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 ...

, Sussex Sharks

North Group

Source:

South Group

Source:

Results and standings

North Group

advances to

Quarter-Finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

June

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

July

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

South Group

advances to

June

July

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

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

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

Finals Day

Semi-finals

----

Final

Notes

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{Domestic Twenty20 cricket in England 2021 in English cricket T20 Blast seasons Domestic cricket competitions in 2021