The English Twenty20 cricket champions are the winners of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Twenty20 competition for first-class cricket counties, most recently the Friends Life t20, although from 2014 this has been replaced with the NatWest t20 Blast. The competition culminates with 'Finals Day': a single day on which both semi-finals and the final are contested at the same ground. Northamptonshire are the current champions, claiming their third title in the 2026 season.
Twenty20 cricket was developed by the ECB to attract new, younger audiences to cricket. Replacing the 50 overs-per-side 'Benson & Hedges Cup', the 'Twenty20 Cup' was introduced in 2003, and was over two hours shorter than its predecessor, and matches also featured greater entertainment off the field, such as live music, barbecues, fancy dress and karaoke. The competition was rebranded as the 'Friends Provident t20' in 2010, and a season later as the 'Friends Life t20'. In 2014, the competition became known as the NatWest t20 Blast. For the first seven years of the competition, teams were allowed one overseas player, as in the other domestic tournaments, but from the 2010 season, each team was allowed two. The finalists in both 2009 and 2011 qualified for the Champions League Twenty20, an international competition between the leading domestic teams from the major cricketing nations.
The competition was won in its inaugural season by Surrey, and in the twenty-three seasons that it has run, it has been won by fourteen different counties. Leicestershire, Hampshire, Somerset and Northamptonshire have won the competition on the most occasions, doing so three times. Somerset have contested more finals than any other team; as well as winning the competition in 2005, 2023 and 2025, they were losing finalists in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2021 and 2024.
Men's champions + List of English men's Twenty20 cricket champions Year Winner Runners-up Venue of final Leading run-scorer Leading wicket-taker Notes Player (club) Runs Player (club) Wickets2003 Surrey Warwickshire Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire (Leicestershire) 301 (Surrey) 16 2004 Leicestershire Surrey Edgbaston, Warwickshire (Leicestershire) 356 (Surrey) 20 2005 Somerset Lancashire The Oval, London (Middlesex) 410 (Surrey) 17 2006 Leicestershire Nottinghamshire Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire (Somerset) 464 (Surrey) 21 2007 Kent Gloucestershire Edgbaston, Warwickshire (Sussex) 346 (Surrey), (Kent) 17 2008 Middlesex Kent The Rose Bowl, Hampshire (Kent) 451 (Kent) 23 2009 Sussex Somerset Edgbaston, Warwickshire (Warwickshire) 525 (Somerset) 18 2010 Hampshire Somerset The Rose Bowl, Hampshire (Hampshire) 668 (Somerset) 33 2011 Leicestershire Somerset Edgbaston, Warwickshire (Leicestershire) 584 (Essex) 26 2012 Hampshire Yorkshire Sophia Gardens, Glamorgan (Worcestershire) 402 (Yorkshire) 21 2013 Northamptonshire SurreyEdgbaston, Warwickshire (Somerset) 517 (Northamptonshire) 27 2014 Birmingham Bears Lancashire (Surrey) 677 (Birmingham Bears) 25 2015 Lancashire Northamptonshire (Hampshire) 710 (Lancashire) 25 2016NorthamptonshireDurham (Gloucestershire) 548 (Gloucestershire) 24 2017NottinghamshireWarwickshire (Kent) 567 (Leicestershire) 23 2018WorcestershireSussex (Sussex) 614 (Worcestershire) 31 2019EssexWorcestershire (Somerset) 578 (Derbyshire) 23 2020NottinghamshireSurrey (Kent) 423 (Nottinghamshire) 19 2021 KentSomerset (Leicestershire) 531 Naveen-ul-Haq (Leicestershire) 26 2022 HampshireLancashire (Hampshire) 678 (Lancashire) 252023 SomersetEssex (Hampshire) 670 (Somerset) 312024 GloucestershireSomerset (Sussex) 596 (Gloucestershire) 332025SomersetHampshire (Hampshire) 633 (Somerset) 282026NorthamptonshireHampshire (Hampshire) 591 (Yorkshire) 27
Performance by county (Men's)
Titles Club Title-winning seasons Leicestershire 2004, 2006, 2011 Hampshire 2010, 2012, 2022 Somerset 2005, 2023, 2025Northamptonshire 2013, 2016, 2026 Kent 2007, 2021 Nottinghamshire 2017, 2020 Essex 2019 Gloucestershire 2024 Lancashire 2015 Middlesex 2008 Surrey 2003 Sussex 2009 Birmingham Bears 2014Worcestershire 2018
Women's champions
+ List of English Women's Twenty20 cricket champions Year Winner Runners-up Venue of final Leading run-scorer Leading wicket-taker Notes Player (club) Runs Player (club) Wickets 2016 Southern Vipers Western Storm County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford (Western Storm) 289 (Western Storm) 11 2017 Western Storm Southern Vipers County Cricket Ground, Hove (Western Storm) 261 (Surrey Stars) 12 2018 Surrey Stars Loughborough Lightning (Western Storm) 421 (Loughborough Lightning) 17 2019 Western Storm Southern Vipers (Southern Vipers) 466 (Western Storm) 19 2021 South East Stars Northern Diamonds Rose Bowl, Southampton (Central Sparks) 276 (South East Stars) 14 2022 Southern Vipers Central Sparks County Ground, Northampton Amy Jones (Central Sparks) 289 Katie Levick (Northern Diamonds) 15 2023 Southern Vipers The Blaze New Road, Worcester Danni Wyatt (Southern Vipers) 273 Nadine de Klerk (The Blaze) 15 2024 The Blaze South East Stars County Ground, Derby Kathryn Bryce (The Blaze) 478 Kirstie Gordon (The Blaze) 22 2025 Surrey Birmingham Bears The Oval, London Suzie Bates (Durham) 439 Millie Taylor (Birmingham Bears) 22 2026 The Blaze Durham Grace Scrivens (Essex) 428 Charli Knott (The Blaze) 27
Performance by team (Women's)
Titles Club Title-winning seasons Southern Vipers 2016, 2022, 2023 Western Storm 2017, 2019 The Blaze 2024, 2026 Surrey Stars 2018 South East Stars 2021 Surrey 2025
Notes
References General
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