The ECB have revealed the schedule for a historic summer of T20 cricket, as for the first time in 2025 all men’s and women’s counties will play side by side in the Vitality Blast. Whilst the men’s tournament enters it’s 22nd year, the women’s sides enter their first following the domestic cricket restructure, with the eighteen counties being split between two tiers of Blast action. League one hosts the eight Tier One, fully professional Counties with league two hosting the remaining 10 Tier Two counties.
Allow me to guide you through the “new” tournament for the women’s game, with everything you need to go before you plan your 2025 summer, including some cheeky and very early predictions!
Order of Contents – The Headlines, Who is Competing?, How Will the Competition Work?, Who Will Fair Well?, Key Dates , Finals Day Weekend & The fixtures in full.
The Headlines
It is safe to say women’s cricket fans will have plenty of entertainment during the 2025 summer, with the Blast hosting ONE HUNDRED & ONE games of T20 cricket across League One & Two.
All 18 first-class counties will host at least one women’s and men’s double header, with 52 being staged at 20 grounds across the country.
“It’s so exciting to announce Vitality Blast women’s fixtures alongside the men’s fixtures. It’s one of the clearest demonstrations to date of our aligned ‘one game’ approach to the delivery of men’s and women’s domestic cricket moving forwards, truly marking the beginning of a new era for professional cricket – one with gender balance at its core – in this country.” – Beth Barrett-Wild, ECB Director of the Women’s Professional Game
91% of Tier One fixtures will be played at main stadia, with some teams playing all their home games at their main ground. Warwickshire as an example are set to play all seven of their home games at Edgbaston, with five double headers.
“In renaming the women’s game to the Vitality Blast earlier this year, and now making these further changes to the competition, we are able to better showcase women’s cricket, further aligning it to the men’s game, which will make it more accessible and increase visibility of it across the country. ” – Neville Koopowitz, CEO at Vitality
From 2025, the ECB has decided owing to the impressive growth of the professional game during the five year Regional 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.
In 2025 Tier Two will include Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Sussex, Worcestershire & Yorkshire.
The eight Tier One sides, will enter League One with the remaining ten Tier Two sides entering League Two.
How Will The Competition Work?
The competition will be split into two leagues, League One & League Two. League One will consist of the eight fully professional women’s counties, with League Two hosting the remaining ten Tier Two counties.
League One consists of one group, hosting all eight sides. The round robin format means each of the eight sides will play 14 fixtures, seven home and seven away, facing all others in the group twice. The top 3 following the group stages will qualify for Finals Day at The Oval, with the top placed side automatically qualifying for the final and second and third facing off in an eliminator to decide the second finalist.
League Two will split the remaining ten first-class counties into two groups of five. League Two also has a round robin format with each side playing a total of eight fixtures, four home and four away, eventually playing all others in the group. Following the conclusion of the group stages, the top two in each group will qualify for Finals Day, which will consist of two semi-finals and a final in Northampton.
South Group: Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Middlesex, Sussex Sharks.
Who Will Fair Well?
As I’m sure you can imagine with 189 days to go until the action blasts off, the majority of the Counties involved are still finalising their squads. This is especially relevant as far as Tier Two & League Two are concerned, with only two sides starting to announce players. So as a whole, it is too soon to tell, but there are already some standouts.
Yorkshire, placed in the North Group of League Two have quite the obvious advantage over their opponents. As previously highlighted, the side will be entering Tier One in 2026, and have resultingly begun to build their squad, handing out twelve professional contracts so far and they are on track to have a fully professional squad. With their fellow Tier Two signs not at a professional level, and Yorkshire boasting players such as England star Lauren Winfield-Hill, you’d like to think they are on track to win big in 2025.
As far as Tier One is concerned, my eyes are on Surrey and The Blaze (Nottinghamshire) to have a very positive 2025. The Blaze lifted the final Charlotte Edwards Cup in 2024, and have retained the majority of their trophy lifting squad. They have also bolstered their England line-up, with England wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones making the move from Warwickshire. As far as Surrey are concerned, they have retained the majority of their South East Stars squad, who reached both domestic finals this year. Both sides are also on track to have the biggest squads in the competition, with over twenty fully-professional players expected to don their colours. This is owing to a concentration of England centrally-contracted players, as well as a number of rookie deals being awarded to young players.
As far as upsets are concerned, the young squads of Essex & Warwickshire, depending on a strong overseas player at each could also be a shout.
Key Fixtures
The Blast-Off weekend, taking place from the 29th of May to the 1st of June will kick-off the historic edition of the competition, with ten double headers taking place, including all eight of the Vitality Blast Tier One women’s counties involved.
The group stage will then reach it’s conclusion with “Friday Finale” on the 18th of July, which will see the Tier One women’s counties race for the three Finals Day spots, with all eight women’s counties in action
Finals Day Weekend
Tier One: The Kia Oval, Surrey – Sunday 27th July
Tier Two: The County Ground, Northampton – Saturday 26th July
When you think of the Vitality Blast, the first thing you think about is probably Finals Day. In the men’ tournament, the event has become iconic with sold out crowds at Edgbaston on a yearly basis. From the mascot race and bungee jumps to the fast-paced cricket, with three games of action it has become iconic.
The idea for Blast Women’s Finals Day is to encapsulate that action, although we don’t know whether there will be a mascot race yet, we can guarantee some world class entertainment. Finals weekend sees two days of back-to-back action. Tier Two start us off, with the League Two finals taking place in Northampton on Saturday 26th of July, consisting of two semi-finals and a final. Tier One finish the tournament with League One concluding at the Kia Oval in Surrey on Sunday 27th of July, albeit with one less game as one eliminator and final will fill the days action.
How to Follow the Action:
TV – Sky Sports have confirmed coverage of Tier One Finals Day on Sunday 27th of July, and I believe that won’t be their only coverage of the tournament. Their coverage of the tournament will be confirmed closer to the action!
YouTube – Historically, women’s cricket has been broadcasted through County/Regional YouTube channels, and I think it is safe to say that will be the case next year, as it is also the common system for streaming by the men’s Counties.
Commentary – The BBC & local radio stations are the go-to destinations for match-day commentary.
You can also catch all the action here on Rosa Talks Ball, you can find us on @rosatalksball on Instagram & X (formerly Twitter).
Tier One Fixtures (In Full)
*Indicates double header with men’s team.
Friday 30 May
*Hampshire Hawks v Essex (Utilita Bowl) *Somerset v Surrey (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton) *The Blaze v Bears (Trent Bridge)
Saturday 31 May
*Bears v Durham Cricket (Edgbaston) Lancashire Thunder v The Blaze (Emirates Old Trafford)
Sunday 1 June
*Durham Cricket v Lancashire Thunder (Seat Unique Riverside) *Essex v Somerset (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford)
Wednesday 4 June
Essex v Bears (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford) *Lancashire Thunder v Hampshire Hawks (Emirates Old Trafford)
Thursday 5 June
*Surrey v Hampshire Hawks (Kia Oval)
Friday 6 June
*Bears v Somerset (Edgbaston) *The Blaze v Essex (County Ground, Derby)
Saturday 7 June
Hampshire Hawks v Durham Cricket (Arundel) Lancashire Thunder v Surrey (Emirates Old Trafford) The Blaze v Somerset (Trent Bridge)
Sunday 8 June
*Bears v Lancashire Thunder (Edgbaston) Surrey v Durham Cricket (Kia Oval)
Wednesday 11 June
*Durham Cricket v Bears (Seat Unique Riverside) Surrey v The Blaze (Kia Oval)
Thursday 12 June
*Essex v Hampshire Hawks (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford)
Friday 13 June
Durham Cricket v The Blaze (Seat Unique Riverside) Somerset v Lancashire Thunder (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton)
Sunday 15 June
Bears v Hampshire Hawks (Edgbaston) Essex v Surrey (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford) *Somerset v Durham Cricket (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton)
Tuesday 17 June
*Hampshire Hawks v Surrey (Utilita Bowl)
Wednesday 18 June
Bears v Essex (Edgbaston) *Surrey v Lancashire Thunder (Kia Oval)
Thursday 19 June
*Somerset v Hampshire Hawks (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton) *The Blaze v Lancashire Thunder (Uptonsteel County Ground)
Friday 20 June
*Bears v The Blaze (Edgbaston) *Durham Cricket v Essex (Seat Unique Riverside)
Friday 4 July
*Durham Cricket v Somerset (Seat Unique Riverside) The Blaze v Hampshire Hawks (Chesterfield)
Saturday 5 July
*Lancashire Thunder v Essex (Emirates Old Trafford)
Sunday 6 July
*Hampshire Hawks v Somerset (Utilita Bowl) Lancashire Thunder v Bears (Venue TBC) *Surrey v Essex (Kia Oval) *The Blaze v Durham Cricket (Trent Bridge)
Tuesday 8 July
*Somerset v Essex (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton)
Wednesday 9 July
*Bears v Surrey (Edgbaston) Hampshire Hawks v Lancashire Thunder (Falkland)
Friday 11 July
Durham Cricket v Hampshire Hawks (Seat Unique Riverside) Somerset v Bears (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton) *The Blaze v Surrey (Trent Bridge)
Sunday 13 July
Essex v The Blaze (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford) *Hampshire Hawks v Bears (Utilita Bowl) *Lancashire Thunder v Durham Cricket (Emirates Old Trafford) *Surrey v Somerset (Kia Oval)
Tuesday 15 July
*Durham Cricket v Surrey (Seat Unique Riverside)
Wednesday 16 July
Essex v Lancashire Thunder (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford) Somerset v The Blaze (Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton)
Friday 18 July
Essex v Durham Cricket (Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford) Hampshire Hawks v The Blaze (Utilita Bowl) Lancashire Thunder v Somerset (Venue TBC) Surrey v Bears (Kia Oval)
Sunday 1 June *Middlesex v Glamorgan (Merchant Taylors’ School) *Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Leicestershire Foxes (County Ground, Northampton) *Sussex Sharks v Gloucestershire (1st Central County Ground, Hove) Yorkshire v Derbyshire Falcons (Headingley)
Sunday 8 June Middlesex v Kent (Radlett) *Sussex Sharks v Glamorgan (1st Central County Ground, Hove) Worcestershire Rapids v Derbyshire Falcons (Visit Worcestershire New Road) Worcestershire Rapids v Northamptonshire Steelbacks (Visit Worcestershire New Road) *Yorkshire v Leicestershire Foxes (Headingley)
Sunday 15 June Glamorgan v Middlesex (Venue TBC) *Gloucestershire v Kent (Seat Unique Stadium,Bristol) *Leicestershire Foxes v Worcestershire Rapids (Uptonsteel County Ground) Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Derbyshire Falcons (County Ground, Northampton)
Saturday 21 June
Derbyshire Falcons v Yorkshire (County Ground, Derby)
Sunday 22 June
Middlesex v Gloucestershire (Radlett) Sussex Sharks v Kent (1st Central County Ground, Hove)
Friday 27 June
Glamorgan v Sussex Sharks (Venue TBC) Kent v Gloucestershire (Spitfire Ground, Canterbury) Leicestershire Foxes v Northamptonshire Steelbacks (Venue TBC) Yorkshire v Worcestershire Rapids (Headingley)
Saturday 28 June
Derbyshire Falcons v Worcestershire Rapids (Chesterfield)
Sunday 29 June
Gloucestershire v Glamorgan (Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol) *Middlesex v Sussex Sharks (Lord’s) Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Yorkshire (County Ground, Northampton)
Saturday 5 July *Sussex Sharks v Middlesex (1st Central County Ground, Hove)
Sunday 6 July Kent v Glamorgan (Spitfire Ground, Canterbury) Leicestershire Foxes v Derbyshire Falcons (Venue TBC) *Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Worcestershire Rapids (County Ground, Northampton)
Sunday 13 July *Glamorgan v Gloucestershire (Sophia Gardens) *Kent v Middlesex (Spitfire Ground, Canterbury) *Worcestershire Rapids v Leicestershire Foxes (Visit Worcestershire New Road) *Yorkshire v Northamptonshire Steelbacks (Headingley)
Thursday 17 July
*Gloucestershire v Sussex Sharks (Cheltenham College)
Friday 18 July *Derbyshire Falcons v Northamptonshire Steelbacks (County Ground, Derby) *Glamorgan v Kent (Sophia Gardens) *Leicestershire Foxes v Yorkshire (Uptonsteel County Ground)
Sunday 20 July
Derbyshire Falcons v Leicestershire Foxes (Venue TBC) Gloucestershire v Middlesex (Cheltenham College) Kent v Sussex Sharks (Spitfire Ground, Canterbury) Worcestershire Rapids v Yorkshire (Visit Worcestershire New Road)
Saturday 26 July – Finals Day
League Two semi-final 1 League Two semi-final 2 League Two final (all County Ground, Northampton)
