Rosa Simkin (@rosatalksball) – 20/11/24
With 39 fixtures hosting 37 teams from across all three Tiers of the women’s game, the Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup offers an exciting event for all cricket fans as we enter the new era of women’s domestic cricket in England. Allow me to take you through the new competition, its draw, how it’s going to be structured and more deeply how it marks the new era of the women’s domestic game as well as concerns raised by members of the Tier 2 playing body surrounding its scheduling.
Worcestershire Women – ©Rosa Simkin – 27/08/23
The ECB have today confirmed the draw for the first ever Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup in its entirity. The new T20 knockout tournament, renamed by many players as “the cricket FA Cup” will feature 37 teams from all three tiers of the game, across 39 fixtures, ending with a Finals Day in Taunton on Monday 26th May.
The competition has been formed by the ECB in an attempt to bridge the gap between the professional and recreational levels of the women’s game, building on the work of Project Darwin. The competitions knock-out nature will give opportunities to counties in Tier 2 and Tier 3 to pull off upsets against fully professional Tier 1 sides and two all Tier 1 clashes in Round Three guarantees at least two sides from Tier 2/3 at the quarter-final stage.
The competition will take place across five matchdays in May, and will mark the first domestic silverware of both the 2025 season and the revamped domestic structure.
The Structure & Key Clashes
The Cup holds a similar structure to that of the FA cup in football, with five match-days played across May. The knockout tournament will feature sides at all levels of the women’s domestic game from Tier’s 1, 2 & 3, with its structure potentially allowing for non-professional Tier 2 & 3 sides to cause upsets against fully professional Tier 1 sides.
Round One (Monday 5th May) and Round Two (Saturday 10th May) will feature all ten Tier 2 sides, and nineteen Tier 3 sides, with 16 matches in Round 1 being cut to 8 in Round Two. Northumberland (Tier 3), Leicestershire Foxes (Tier 2) & Suffolk (Tier 3) all gain immediate qualification into Round Two, as they have not been drawn against an opponent in the first round.
Round Three (Saturday 17th May) will mark the entry of the professional Tier 1 Counties and includes two all Tier 1 clashes, as Surrey face Hampshire Hawks in match 25 and Somerset face Durham in match 32. Bears, Lancashire Thunder, Essex & The Blaze will each face a side from Tier 2/3, and we will also see two all Tier 2/3 clashes to make up the eight fixtures.
On Saturday 24th of May, the four quarterfinals will be played. Owing to the two all Tier 1 clashes in Round Three, we are guaranteed two non-professional sides (Tier 2/3) at this stage.
On Monday 26th of May the competition will reach its conclusion at The Cooper Associate County Ground (Taunton), home of Somerset, as four sides will look to lift the first silverware of the season. The day will consist of three fixtures, with both semi-finals taking place, followed by the final.
Marking The New Era:
Women’s Domestic Structure 2025 Pyramid – ©England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
The tournament will mark the first silverware of the “Project Darwin” domestic restructure. From 2020 – 2024 the women’s professional game has been organised in Regions, with eight spread across England & Wales. Each of these Regions hosted a number of professional and national counties, with all 18 professional counties represented across the board. As an example the West Midlands hub, the Central Sparks partnered with Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire & Shropshire.
However, as the game has progressed, the potential for professional growth within these Regional hubs has been minimal. To start, owing to each team having multiple homes it has been hard for them to build a fan base, as County fans were left unsure about who to support. More deeply however, each team being split among a number of professional counties led to a lack of investment and support. From marketing and social media coverage, all the way to the scheduling and location of games and training.
From 2025, the ECB has decided owing to the impressive growth of the professional game during the five year period, to hand the women’s game back to the Counties. A bidding structure split the sides into Tier One and Two, with Tier One replacing the Regions as the fully professional level of the game. Each side is expected to contract a minimum of 15 players, not including overseas or England internationals and are expected to fully integrate their women’s side into the club, from funding and marketing to philosophy.
The eight sides initially representing Tier One are Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, The Blaze (Nottinghamshire), Somerset, Surrey & Warwickshire. This will be upped to nine in 2026 as Yorkshire join and ten in 2027 as Glamorgan join. The ECB hope to raise this to twelve by 2029.
Tier Two is made up of the remaining professional counties, whilst Tier Three includes over 20 National Counties.
It feels rather fitting to mark the complete return of the domestic game to the Counties with a competition involving all three tiers and is the perfect way to kick start the season, as the new Era of women’s domestic cricket begins.
Concerns Raised Surrounding Scheduling
The Gap Between the Quarter-Finals & Finals Day:
It is safe to say, the turn-around between quarter-final matchday (Saturday 24th of May) and the Finals Day in Taunton (Monday 26th of May) is quite a dramatic one. As raised by a number of fans on X (formerly Twitter), it leads to potential last minute arrangements, meaning increased travel and potential accommodation costs. Especially as it falls on bank holiday Monday! There is a risk of this, therefore, damaging crowd numbers.
Concerns Surrounding Saturday Matchdays:
“I think it’s a very exciting time for women’s cricket, but my concern is that these games being played on a Saturday will not only affect Saturday open/mens club cricket by losing their female players, but also, will result in potentially less supporters as most cricket fans will be playing themselves for their club on a Saturday.” – Potential Tier Two Player
Growth of the game has been at the forefront of the ECBs mind through the months of negotiation surrounding Project Darwin, but a number of Tier 2 players I have discussed the scheduling of the Cup with have expressed their concerns. Whilst they recognise and appreciate the opportunities which arise from this new tournament, as well as the opportunity to share the stage with professional outlets and the resulting levelling up of the games lower tiers, the scheduling of three Saturday match-days has raised concern.
This has been for two reasons. Firstly, concerns surrounding the fanbase. Anyone who has played or is aware of club cricket will recognise the common scheduling of men’s 1st & 2nd XI match-days on Saturday’s. Secondly, concerns surrounding the issues this will raise for those clubs, losing large numbers of their player body. For players at this level, club cricket remains crucial for their development, as historically County playing opportunities have been limited. In addition to this, in recent years there has been limited incentive for many players to play County cricket over club cricket, owing to their treatment by the County sides.
It is a difficult one to resolve, especially with the amount of cricket the ECB aims to schedule during the summer, however it is something which will likely be reconsidered should the tournament return for a second year in 2026.
All The Fixtures:
Round One (Ties to be played Monday 5 May)
Match 1: Lincolnshire v Cheshire
Match 2: Staffordshire v Cumbria
Match 3: Northumberland – BYE
Match 4: Yorkshire v Derbyshire Falcons
Match 5: Leicestershire Foxes – BYE
Match 6: Shropshire v Norfolk
Match 7: Cambridgeshire v Herefordshire
Match 8: Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Worcestershire Rapids
Match 9: Sussex Sharks v Buckinghamshire
Match 10: Suffolk – BYE
Match 11: Hertfordshire v Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire
Match 12: Middlesex v Kent
Match 13: Cornwall v Berkshire
Match 14: Wiltshire v Oxfordshire
Match 15: Dorset v Devon
Match 16: Glamorgan v Gloucestershire
Round Two (Ties to play Saturday 10 May)
Match 17: Yorkshire or Derbyshire Falcons v Staffordshire or Cumbria
Match 18: Leicestershire Foxes v Lincolnshire or Cheshire
Match 19: Shropshire or Norfolk v Northamptonshire Steelbacks or Worcestershire Rapids
Match 20: Northumberland v Cambridgeshire or Herefordshire
Match 21: Glamorgan or Gloucestershire v Sussex Sharks or Buckinghamshire
Match 22: Cornwall or Berkshire v Middlesex or Kent
Match 23: Wiltshire or Oxfordshire v Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire
Match 24: Devon or Dorset v Suffolk
Round Three (Ties to be played Saturday 17 May)
Match 25: Surrey v Hampshire Hawks
Match 26: Winner of Match 24 v Bears
Match 27: Winner of Match 19 v Winner of Match 18
Match 28: Winner of Match 21 v Lancashire Thunder
Match 29: Winner of Match 17 v Essex
Match 30: Winner of Match 23 v The Blaze
Match 31: Winner of Match 20 v Winner of Match 22
Match 32: Somerset v Durham
Quarter-finals (Ties to be played Saturday 24 May)
Match 33: Winner of Match 25 v Winner of Match 32
Match 34: Winner of Match 31 v Winner of Match 30
Match 35: Winner of Match 27 v Winner of Match 28
Match 36: Winner of Match 29 v Winner of Match 26
Finals Day (Monday 26 May, The Cooper Associate County Ground, Taunton)
Match 37: Semi-Final 1: Winner of Match 35 v Winner of Match 34
Match 38: Semi-Final 2: Winner of Match 36 v Winner of Match 33
Match 39: Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup Final
