TWENTY20 CUP

The 'Twenty20 Cup' is a cricket competition for English and Welsh county clubs.
The Twenty20 format, twenty overs for each team, means a game can be completed in under three hours, making it more palatable for children and families than longer matches. Many games also feature additional activities for the spectators in order to provide more entertainment, such as paddling pools, bouncy castles, themed areas, bowling speed-guns, and prizes for catching a 6 ball. On Finals Day, there is also a performance by a major pop act - Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, Girls Aloud and Sugababes have performed on past Finals Days, and Mutya Buena performed on the 2007 Finals Day at Edgbaston.
Most of the standard rules of cricket are retained, but the emphasis is on fast scoring and fast moving cricket. There are limits on fielding positions, and the boundaries are shorter, to encourage aggressive batting. Batsmen get a Free Hit if the bowler bowls a "No Ball" by overstepping the popping crease. There is also a strict 1 minute 30 second time limit on the amount of time a new batsman has to reach the crease, and in the event of the scores being equal at the end of the overs, there is a "bowl-off", similar to a penalty shoot out, except the bowlers have to bowl at unguarded stumps.
Many games are played in twilight, again to enhance family spectator appeal and to allow attendance after work and school. They also feature numerous musical 'stings' for exciting events, such as the dismissal of a batsman, or the hitting of a boundary.

Contents

Competition Format

Northern Division

Southern Division

Mid / West / Wales Division

Final Results

Centuries in the Twenty20 Cup

See also

External links

Competition Format

The first stage involves the eighteen counties being split into three "divisions", based on their location in Britain, each with six counties. These divisions are:

Northern Division

Derbyshire Phantoms

Durham Dynamos

Leicestershire Foxes

Lancashire Lightning

Nottinghamshire Outlaws

Yorkshire Phoenix

Southern Division

Essex Eagles

Hampshire Hawks

Kent Spitfires

Middlesex Crusaders

Surrey Brown Caps

Sussex Sharks

Mid / West / Wales Division

Glamorgan Dragons

Gloucestershire Gladiators

Northamptonshire Steelbacks

Somerset Sabres

Warwickshire Bears

Worcestershire Royals

Each county plays eight games, four of them at home and four away, during the round robin stages, playing teams in their divisions, three of them twice, once at home and once away from home. Teams receive two points for a win, none for a defeat and one for a tie or a no result if the game can't be completed. This stage takes around three weeks to complete, with teams playing several ties each week. The top two from each division along with the two best third place finishers qualify with for the quarter-finals, with the group winners and best second place team having home ties. The winners of the quarter-finals go through to "Finals Day", a bumper day of Twenty20 when the semi-finals and final of the competition take place on the same day at the same venue, for 2007 it was Edgbaston on August 4.

2008 Finals Day will take place at The Rose Bowl,Southampton on Saturday July 26th.

Final Results

Year		Final
		Winner	Result	Runner-up
2003		Surrey Lions 119 for 1 (10.5 overs)	'Surrey won by 9 wickets' [1]	Warwickshire Bears 115 (18.1 overs)
2004		Leicestershire Foxes 169 for 3 (19.1 overs)	'Leicestershire won by 7 wickets' [2]	Surrey Lions 168 for 6 (20 overs)
2005 ''Details''		Somerset Sabres 118 for 3 (14.1 overs)	'Somerset won by 7 wickets' [3] Match reduced to 16 overs per innings due to rain	Lancashire Lightning 114 for 8 (16 overs)
2006 ''		Leicestershire Foxes 177 for 2 (20 overs)	'Leicestershire won by 4 runs' [4]	Nottinghamshire Outlaws 173 for 8 (20 overs)
2007 ''Details''		Kent Spitfires 147 for 6 (19.3 overs)	'Kent won by 4 wickets' [5]	Gloucestershire Gladiators 146 for 8 (20 overs)

Centuries in the Twenty20 Cup

'Rank'	'Score (deliveries)'	'Player'	'Team'	'Year'
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19	141 ★ (70) 116 ★ (53) 116 ★ (57) 116 ★ (65) 112 (43) 111 ★ (59) 111 (60) 110 (49) 109 (55) 108 ★ (59) 105 (45) 105 (56) 103 (45) 102 ★ (65) 101 (58) 100 ★ (50) 100 (55) 100 (55) 100 ★ (61)	Cameron White Cameron White Ian Thomas Graeme Hick Andrew Symonds Lance Klusener Darren Maddy Graeme Hick Ian Harvey Ian Harvey Ben Smith Graeme Smith Luke Wright Murray Goodwin Stuart Law Ian Harvey Mal Loye Hamish Marshall Ronnie Irani	Somerset Sabres Somerset Sabres Glamorgan Dragons Worcestershire Royals Kent Spitfires Northamptonshire Steelbacks Leicestershire Foxes Worcestershire Royals Yorkshire Phoenix Yorkshire Phoenix Worcestershire Royals Somerset Sabres Sussex Sharks Sussex Sharks Lancashire Lightning Gloucestershire Gladiators Lancashire Lightning Gloucestershire Gladiators Essex Eagles	2006 2006 2004 2004 2004 2007 2004 2007 2005 2004 2005 2005 2007 2007 2005 2003 2005 2007 2006

See also

★ Sports league attendances

External links

★ ECB site

★ cricket20