2023 T20 Blast

The 2023 Vitality Blast was the twenty-first edition of the T20 Blast currently known as the Vitality Blast, a professional Twenty20 cricket league played in England and Wales. The tournament was held from 20 May to 15 July 2023.^[1] It was run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and was branded as the Vitality Blast due to the tournament's sponsorship.^[2] The Hampshire Hawks were the defending champions, having won their third title during the previous season.^[3] On 30 November 2022, the ECB announced the fixtures for the tournament.^[1]

Somerset and the Hampshire Hawks won their home quarter-finals, while the Essex Eagles and Surrey also secured a place at Finals day with away wins against the Birmingham Bears and Lancashire Lightning respectively, thus producing an all South Group finals for only the second time; the last occurrence being in 2021. In the final, Somerset beat the Essex Eagles by 14 runs to win their second title after an 18-year wait.^[4] Somerset won 15 of their 17 fixtures in the 2023 Vitality Blast, setting a new domestic T20 competition record for the number of wins in a season.

Format

The playing format is the same as the previous season, where groups remain the same with the familiar North and South split, while each county will play 14 group-stage matches, seven at home and seven away.^[5]

Teams

The teams are divided into the following groups:^[6]^[7]

North Group: Birmingham Bears, Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Northants Steelbacks, Notts Outlaws, Worcestershire Rapids, Yorkshire Vikings
South Group: Essex Eagles, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Hampshire Hawks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex Sharks

North Group

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to field.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to field.
Jafer Chohan (Yorkshire) made his T20 debut.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to bat.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to bat.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to bat.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to bat.

Derbyshire Falcons won the toss and elected to bat.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to bat.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to bat.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to field.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to bat.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to field.

Notts Outlaws won the toss and elected to field.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to bat.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to bat.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to field.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to field.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to field.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to field.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to bat.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to bat.
Josh Hull (Leicestershire Foxes) made his T20 debut.

Notts Outlaws won the toss and elected to field.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to field.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to field.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to bat.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to field.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to field.

Durham won the toss and elected to field.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to bat.
Michael Finan (Leicestershire Foxes) made his T20 debut.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to bat.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to field.

Durham won the toss and elected to field.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to bat.

Notts Outlaws won the toss and elected to field.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to field.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to bat.

Derbyshire Falcons won the toss and elected to field.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to field.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to field.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to field.

Yorkshire Vikings won the toss and elected to field.

Durham won the toss and elected to field.
Durham were set a revised target of 158 runs from 17 overs.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to field.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to bat.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to field.

Notts Outlaws won the toss and elected to bat.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to bat.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to bat.

Northants Steelbacks won the toss and elected to bat.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to field.
Haseeb Hameed (Notts Outlaws) made his T20 debut.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to bat.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to field.

Durham won the toss and elected to field.
Play was abandoned due to rain.

Derbyshire Falcons won the toss and elected to field.
The match was reduced to 15 overs due to rain.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to field.

Leicestershire Foxes won the toss and elected to field.

No toss.
No play was possible due to rain.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to field.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to field.
Worcestershire Rapids were set a revised target of 113 runs from 11 overs due to rain.

Birmingham Bears won the toss and elected to bat.

Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and elected to bat.

Lancashire Lightning won the toss and elected to field.

Nottinghamshire Outlaws won the toss and elected to bat.

South Group

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bat.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat.
Nathan Fernandes (Middlesex) made his T20 debut.

Glamorgan won the toss and elected to field.

Hampshire Hawks won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to field.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field.

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.
Kent Spitfires were set a revised target of 126 runs from 15 overs due to rain.

Surrey won the toss and elected to field.

Glamorgan won the toss and elected to bat.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to field.

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.

Glamorgan won the toss and elected to field.
Zain-ul-Hassan (Glamorgan) made his T20 debut.

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to field.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to bat.
Danial Ibrahim (Sussex Sharks) made his T20 debut.

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to bat.

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to bat.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field.
John Turner (Hampshire Hawks) made his T20 debut.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.
Shoaib Bashir (Somerset) made his T20 debut.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to bat.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to bat.

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to bat.

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to field.

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to bat.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Hampshire Hawks won the toss and elected to field.
Brad Currie (Sussex Sharks) made his T20 debut.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to field.
Zaman Akhter (Gloucestershire) made his T20 debut.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field.
Middlesex innings curtailed at 12.3 overs due to rain; DLS par score was 139.

Hampshire Hawks won the toss and elected to field.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to field.
Gloucestershire were set a revised target of 84 runs from 9 overs due to rain.

Glamorgan won the toss and elected to field.
Josh Blake (Surrey) and Andy Gorvin (Glamorgan) both made their T20 debuts.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to bat.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to field.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field.
This was the highest runchase in the history of T20 Blast.^[8]

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to bat.

Hampshire Hawks won the toss and elected to field.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field.

Somerset won the toss and elected to field.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to field.

Glamorgan won the toss and elected to field.
Glamorgan were set a revised target of 76 runs from 5.3 overs due to rain.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.
Kent Spitfires were set a revised target of 129 runs from 10 overs due to rain.

Surrey won the toss and elected to field.

Sussex Sharks won the toss and elected to bat.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to bat first.

Hampshire Hawks won the toss and elected to field.

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to field.

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.

Standings

North Group

Source: Cricinfo

Advanced to the Quarter-finals

Yorkshire Vikings deducted 4 points on 28 July

South Group

Source: Cricinfo

Advanced to the Quarter-finals

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat.

Notts Outlaws won the toss and elected to bat.

Hampshire Hawks won the toss and elected to field.

Finals Day

Semi-finals

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.
Essex Eagles were set a revised target of 115 from 12 overs due to rain.

Surrey won the toss and elected to field.
The match was reduced to 19 overs per side due to rain.

Final

Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to field.
The match started at 19:05 rather than its scheduled time due to rain.

References

^ a b "Schedule for 2023 domestic season announced". England and Wales Cricket Board. 30 November 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
^ "Vitality Blast Finals Day 2023 confirmed for 15 July". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
^ Scott, Ged (16 July 2022). "T20 Blast Finals Day: Hampshire beat Lancashire in double final-ball thriller to win for third time". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
^ "Vitality Blast 2023: Somerset wins second title; full winners list". SportStar. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ Flynn, Connor (1 December 2022). "Vitality Blast 2023: Fixtures, Format and Teams". Seat Unique. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
^ "Vitality Blast 2023 team-by-team preview: North Group". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
^ "Vitality Blast 2023 team-by-team preview: South Group". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
^ "T20 Blast: Middlesex score 254 against Surrey in record run chase". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 June 2023.

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo