Worcestershire CCC can confirm that The Professional County Cricket Clubs (PCCs) have this week reached agreements to alter the formats of the Vitality Blast men’s competition, the Vitality Blast women’s competitions (Tiers 1 & 2) and the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competitions (Tiers 1 & 2) from next season.
The reasons and details of those changes for each competition are outlined below:
Vitality Blast men’s competition
The required majority of the 18 PCCs voted to reduce the number of Vitality Blast men’s competition group-stage matches from 14 to 12 from next season.
The reduction follows the recommendations of the county-led men’s Domestic Playing Programme (DPP) review, which will also see the Vitality Blast men’s competition revert to three groups of six counties, with the quarter-finals and men’s Vitality Blast Finals Day played before The Hundred.
Women’s white-ball county competitions
Yorkshire will move from Tier 2 into Tier 1 from the 2026 season which will mean an even split of nine counties in each of those two tiers next season.
The total number of Tier 1 group-stage matches across the women’s Vitality Blast and women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup is retained at 28. The split of Tier 1 group-stage matches will change with 12 women’s Vitality Blast matches (down from 14) and 16 women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup matches (up from 14).
The Tier 2 group-stage matches across both white-ball competitions will be reduced from 17 to 16 group-stage matches, with each county to play each other once in each competition during the group phase.
Vitality Blast women’s competitions
The required majority of the 18 PCCs voted to reduce the number of Vitality Blast women’s competition (Tier 1) group-stage matches from 14 to 12 for next season.
The vote was not tied to the outcome of the vote on the Vitality Blast men’s competition. It was also agreed that the women’s Vitality Blast Finals Day (Tier 1) will be expanded to include two semi-finals and a final.
The Vitality Blast Women’s League 2 (Tier 2) will maintain eight group-stage matches, but move to a single group – changing from North and South Groups in 2025 – with a three-team Finals Day.
Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competitions
The group stage of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition (Tier 1) will increase to 16 matches, which did not require a vote of the PCCs. It was additionally agreed to remove the two semi-finals and instead play a 2nd v 3rd Eliminator before the final.
The Metro Bank One-Day Cup Women’s League 2 (Tier 2) will be reduced from nine to eight group-stage games with each county playing each other once.
Worcestershire County Cricket Club CEO Ashley Giles, said:
“The changes to the playing structure are ones we as a club feel will benefit our players, our staff and our members. The prospect of playing more regionalised fixtures against our rivals, is a proposition that excites everyone at the club.
“Playing more intense derby fixtures at more accessible times means that players and supporters can enjoy a better standard of cricket in more manageable workloads and timeframes.
“From a player welfare, logistical and commercial perspective, enhancing the quality of our fixtures and building a narrative around more localised matches in the group will only improve the quality of cricket on show, with the changes coming as a welcome improvement to what is one of the most exciting T20 competitions around.
“The women’s Rapids will benefit from a more cohesive and aligned group stage format in both of the white ball competitions.”
In a switch to three regionalised groups of six across the men’s competition, Worcestershire will play in Group C, retaining fixtures against the Bears and Northants, while new fixtures have been added against local sides Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset.
The new group stages and format of the competition are listed below.
Vitality Blast men’s competition:
GROUPS
Group A: Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Notts Outlaws, Yorkshire.
Group B: Essex, Hampshire Hawks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex Sharks.
Group C: Bears, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Somerset, Worcestershire Rapids.
Group-stage matches
Each county will play the other counties in their group on a home-and-away basis – a total of 10 matches. They will additionally play one home game against a county from outside their group and one away game against a county from outside their group.
This will allow counties to play against all 18 counties, over time, on a rolling basis during the group stage of the competition.
Knockout stage
The top two teams in each group plus the best two third-placed teams will progress to the quarter-finals. The winners of the quarter-finals will progress to men’s Vitality Blast Finals Day.
Vitality Blast Women’s League 2 (Tier 2)
For Worcestershire Rapids Women, the changes see the side enter a nine team Tier 2 League, where they will play each of the other eight teams once, four at home and four away.
Group: Derbyshire Falcons, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire Foxes, Middlesex, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Sussex Sharks, Worcestershire Rapids.
Group-stage matches
Each county will play eight group-stage matches – four home and four away. They will play each county either home or away.
Knockout stage
The top three counties at the end of the group stage will progress to Vitality Blast Women’s League 2 Finals Day, which will include an Eliminator and Final.
Metro Bank One-Day Cup Women’s League 2 (Tier 2)
Group: Derbyshire Falcons, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire Foxes, Middlesex, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Sussex Sharks, Worcestershire Rapids.
Group-stage matches
Each county will play eight group-stage matches – four home and four away. They will play each county either home or away.
Knockout stage
The top four counties at the end of the group stage will progress to the knockouts stages. The winners of the two semi-finals progress to the final.
