The Vitality Blast is back! The domestic T20 tournament blasts into action on Saturday with a double-header live on SportNews. Ahead of its return, here’s all you need to know about the 2023 tournament…
SportNews will broadcast 25 exclusively live games from the 2023 Vitality Blast, following the tournament from opening day on Saturday May 20 right the way through to the carnival atmosphere of Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday July 15.
It all kicks off with a double-header this weekend, starting with Derbyshire Falcons versus Lancashire Lightning (2.30pm), followed by Birmingham Bears versus Yorkshire Vikings (6.30pm), with live coverage getting under way on SportNews Cricket from 2pm.
We'll get our first glimpse of defending champions Hampshire Hawks on Wednesday night, as the three-time winners visit Somerset - live on SportNews Cricket from 6.45pm - while Surrey are in action twice in as many days on opening week, with their London derby against Middlesex at Lord's on Thursday and then a home clash against Kent Spitfires on Friday, both live on SportNews Cricket from 6pm.
The tournament follows the same format as last year, with the 18 county sides split into separate North and South Groups.
NORTH GROUP: Birmingham Bears, Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Notts Outlaws, Worcestershire Rapids, Yorkshire Vikings.
SOUTH GROUP: Essex Eagles, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Hampshire Hawks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex Sharks.
Each side plays 14 group games, seven at home and seven away, between May 20 and July 2, with the top four teams in each pool progressing to the quarter-finals in early July.
The winners of the North Group will face the fourth-placed team in the South Group in the quarter-finals and so on and so forth, with the winners of the quarter-finals advancing to Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday, July 15.
A jam-packed summer of international cricket gets under way on June 1 as England host Ireland at Lord's, just over a fortnight before the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston on June 16.
It means that England's Test players are unlikely to feature much in the Blast this season but, at the same token, there is the small matter of a 50-over World Cup title defence on the horizon in India in October/November. The Vitality Blast boasts a number of England white-ball specialists set to star in that tournament or, at the very least, players desperately keen to advance their case to be selected for it.
Sam Curran (Surrey) was named Player of the Tournament when England won the T20 World Cup last autumn, while the explosive six-hitting exploits of Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Phil Salt (Lancashire) and Jason Roy (Surrey) will be on display once they all return from the IPL following its conclusion later this month.
Moeen Ali (Birmingham) is another currently starring in the IPL, but he will captain the Birmingham Bears in his first year back at Edgbaston, while David Willey (Northants) also returns home to Northamptonshire this season and will skipper the Steelbacks following his stint in India.
Willey, the desperately unlucky man to miss out on England's World Cup-winning squad in 2019 to make way for Jofra Archer, will be keen to press his claims for selection this time - as will the likes of Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire) and Matthew Potts (Durham) - after recent injuries to Archer, Olly Stone and Reece Topley.
Another England star to watch out for in this year's Blast is 18-year-old leg-spin sensation Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), who exploded onto the scene to earn maiden international caps across all three formats over the winter.
Big-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell stands out as the box-office overseas signing of the Blast, with the Australian taking up residence at Edgbaston with the Birmingham Bears this summer.
Staying in the midlands, but heading east, Notts Outlaws have pulled off a real coup to bring in ferocious Pakistan left-arm paceman Shaheen Afridi, while Kent Spitfires will certainly benefit from the death-bowling expertise that Australia's Kane Richardson will provide down in Canterbury.
Lancashire Lightning will bring a couple of Kiwis to the table, with the explosive power-hitting of Colin de Grandhomme paired with the relentless run-scoring of Daryl Mitchell, a man who England fans know all about after his exploits with the bat on New Zealand's tour to these shores last summer.
Surrey have snapped up West Indian spinner Sunil Narine, who will be very familiar with his Kia Oval surroundings, having also played there for Oval Invincibles in the The Hundred over the past two years, and while there is no Rashid Khan down in Sussex this season, the Sharks have replaced the Afghanistan leg-spinner with another expert tweaker in Pakistan leggy Shadab Khan.
With James Vince again leading the way with the bat, and as captain, the defending-champion Hampshire Hawks should once again content for the title. They won in the most thrilling fashion on Finals Day in 2022, triumphing over Lancashire Lightning by just one run to claim the competition a joint-record third time (level with Leicestershire Foxes).
Notts Outlaws are another dangerous outfit. Winners in 2017 and 2020, the Trent Bridge outfit will be looking to bounce back this year after breaking a streak of five-straight seasons with at least a quarter-final berth last summer.
Lancashire should also again be in the mix. The 2015 champions finished as runners-up to Hampshire last year, meaning they themselves are now in the midst of a streak of five consecutive seasons of having at least reached the quarter-finals.
Two other teams who reached that stage last year who could well be in contention again in 2023 are Birmingham Bears and Surrey, who have, incredibly still yet to win the tournament for a second time following their 2003 triumph in the inaugural season of the competition 20 years ago.
Saturday, May 20
Derbyshire Falcons vs Lancashire Lightning - live on SportNews Cricket, 2pm
Birmingham Bears vs Yorkshire Vikings - live on SportNews Cricket, 6.15pm
Wednesday, May 24
Somerset vs Hampshire Hawks - live on SportNews Cricket, 6.45pm
Thursday, May 25
Middlesex vs Surrey - live on SportNews Cricket, 6pm
Friday, May 26
Surrey vs Kent Spitfires - live on SportNews Cricket, 6.15pm
Monday, May 29
Durham vs Notts Outlaws - live on SportNews Cricket, 6.30pm
Thursday, June 1
Yorkshire Vikings vs Lancashire Lightning - live on SportNews Cricket, 7pm
Saturday, June 3
Hampshire Hawks vs Sussex Sharks - live on SportNews Cricket, 7pm
Wednesday, June 7
Kent Spitfires vs Essex Eagles - live on SportNews Cricket, 6.30pm
Thursday, June 22
Surrey vs Middlesex - live on SportNews Cricket, 6.30pm
Friday, June 30
Lancashire Lightning vs Yorkshire Vikings - live on SportNews Cricket, 7pm
Sunday, July 2
Final round of Vitality Blast group games
Saturday, July 15
Finals Day, Edgbaston
