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 as a replacement for the Pro40 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 were the last sponsors, taking over the naming rights from their parent company Clydesdale Bank 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.

History

In 2009, in light of the growth of Twenty20 cricket with the Twenty20 Cup,

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 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 2010 English cricket season with Clydesdale Bank, 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, 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 * 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 *

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 * Yorkshire Vikings

Results

Records

Team

*Most runs in an innings: 399/4, Sussex Sharks v Worcestershire Royals, 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 Scottish Saltires, 2 June 2013. *Most runs in a tournament: 861, Jacques Rudolph for Yorkshire Carnegie (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