The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the

2010 English cricket season The 2010 English cricket season was the 111th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. It began on 29 March with the Champion County match between Durham County Cricket Club and an MCC side, and ended on 18 September ...

as a replacement for the

Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on da ...

and

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

competitions.

Yorkshire Bank Yorkshire Bank was a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in England. The Yorkshire Bank was founded in 1859 as the West Riding of Yorkshire Provident Society and Penny Savings Society but the Provident ...

were the last sponsors, taking over the naming rights from their parent company

Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank () is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank plc's holding company, CYBG, would acquire Virgin Money for £1.7 billi ...

for the 2013 edition.

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

won the inaugural tournament. The competition was replaced by a 50-over tournament, to bring the domestic game in line with the international game from

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

on—the

Royal London One-Day Cup The One-Day Cup, currently known as the Metro Bank One Day Cup, is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. It began in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran from 2010 ...

History

In 2009, in light of the growth of

Twenty20 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 ...

cricket with the

Twenty20 Cup 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 ...

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

and

ICC World Twenty20 The ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly the ICC World Twenty20, is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in every odd year from 2007 to 2009, ...

, the ECB realised that the Pro40 and Friends Provident Trophy were attracting less interest. Plans began to consolidate the

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

competitions into a single 40-over trophy. The competition began in the

with

, previously sponsor of the Twenty20 Cup, agreeing to a three-year sponsorship. John Perera, ECB commercial director, stated that "We are delighted to welcome Clydesdale Bank as the title sponsor for the 40-over competition particularly as it gives us an opportunity to build on an already strong working relationship. The Clydesdale Bank 40 is an exciting new competition and the format is designed to comfortably fit into the busy family weekend."

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, were asked to compete, following their entry in the Friends Provident Trophy, but Ireland declined in order to concentrate on their growing international commitments;

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

took their place.Geoffrey Dean, Ivo Tennant, Patrick Kidd.
Dispute overshadows first sighting of Unicorns
', 2 May 2010, www.timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved on 3 May 2010. A new team, the

Unicorns cricket team Unicorns were a cricket team in England that was formed in 2010 specifically to play in the Clydesdale Bank 40 limited overs competition. They played in that competition until 2013 and from 2014 to 2018 the Unicorns team competed in the Second ...

, was formed of contractless county players to compete, unpaid, alongside the 18 first-class counties, Scotland and the Netherlands.Bolton, Pau
Wes Durston to play for Unicorns
8 April 2010, www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 2 May 2010.

beat

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 ...

in the final of the inaugural 2010 tournament. The format for the 2011 competition was kept the same, despite calls for the number of county matches to be reduced; fewer group matches were proposed for the 2012 season, with the addition of a quarter-final knock-out round.

Unicorns The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

competed, and held a fresh set of trials over the winter period.

Participating teams and format

The competition contained three groups of seven. A random draw was used to place the teams into groups. The top team of each group, together with the second best team across all three groups, progressed to two semi-finals, the winners of which faced off in the final for the trophy. The participating teams were the 18 first-class counties plus

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

. * Derbyshire Falcons *

Durham Dynamos Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic c ...

* 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 Gladiators * Hampshire Royals * Kent Spitfires * Lancashire Lightning * Leicestershire Foxes * Middlesex Panthers *

* Northamptonshire Steelbacks * Nottinghamshire Outlaws *

Scottish Saltires The Scotland national men's cricket team represents the country of Scotland. They play most of their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh, as well as at other venues around Scotland. Scotland's history in cricket dates back to the 18th centur ...

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 *

* Warwickshire Bears *

Worcestershire Royals Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

* Yorkshire Vikings

Results

Records

Team

*Most runs in an innings: 399/4, Sussex Sharks v

, 14 August 2011. *Most runs batting second: 337/7, Kent Spitfires v Sussex Sharks, 19 June 2013 (world record in 40-over game). *Lowest total in an innings: 57,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, 8 June 2012.

Individual

*Most runs in an innings: 180,

Ryan ten Doeschate Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a Dutch cricket coach and former cricketer. He is currently one of the assistant coaches of Indian men’s cricket team. Born in South Africa, he played for the Netherlands national cricket team ...

for Essex Eagles v

, 2 June 2013. *Most runs in a tournament: 861,

Jacques Rudolph Jacobus Andries "Jacques" Rudolph (born 4 May 1981) is a former South African cricketer who played for Yorkshire, Glamorgan and in South Africa with Titans. He attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool, a popular and renowned public school located in ...

for

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 whe ...

(2010). *Best bowling figures: 7/29, David Payne for Gloucestershire Gladiators v Essex Eagles, 9 May 2010 (including a hat-trick). *Most wickets in a tournament: 28, Michael Hogan for

(2013).

Notes

References

{{ECB 40 seasons English domestic cricket competitions Professional 40-over cricket competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2010 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2013 List A cricket competitions