Women's Twenty20 Cup

The Women's Twenty20 Cup, known since 2018 as the Vitality Women’s Twenty20 Cup, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. After being cancelled in 2020, from 2021 it will operate with regionalised groups, with teams having previously been arranged in tiered divisions.[1]

Women's Twenty20 Cup
AdministratorEngland and Wales Cricket Board
FormatTwenty20
First edition2009
Tournament formatRegional divisions
Number of teams35
Current championWarwickshire (2019)
Most successfulKent (3 titles)
2021 Women's Twenty20 Cup

The competition began in 2009 and now features 35 teams, drawn mainly from the historic counties of England, plus Scotland. Until 2019, the competition operated alongside the Women's County Championship, but after a restructuring in women's domestic cricket in 2020, from 2021 it will be the only tournament featuring county sides, with regional teams competing in new 50-over, Twenty20 and The Hundred competitions.[2]

The current champions are Warwickshire Women, who won the 2019 competition. The most successful side in the history of the competition is Kent Women, with 3 wins.[3]

History

The Women's Twenty20 Cup began in 2009, with teams competing in eight tiered divisions of four. Surrey were the inaugural Division 1 champions.[4] Over the years, the competition has had various formats, including larger divisions and a round robin and final system. The competition has run alongside regional tournaments such as the Super Fours and the Women's Cricket Super League, and from 2021 will be the only county-based competition still in existence.[5][6]

Structure

From 2021, the 35 teams that compete in the tournament will play in 6 regional groups. The teams are divided as follows:[7]

East Group Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Norfolk Suffolk
East Midlands Group Derbyshire Leicestershire and Rutland Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Shropshire
North Group Cumbria Lancashire North East Warriors[lower-alpha 1] Scotland A Yorkshire
South East Group Essex Hampshire Kent Middlesex Surrey Sussex
South West Group Cornwall Devon Dorset Gloucestershire Oxfordshire Wiltshire
West Midlands Group Berkshire Somerset Staffordshire Wales Warwickshire Worcestershire

Winners
Season Winner Runner-up
2009 Surrey Kent
2010 Berkshire Yorkshire
2011 Kent Berkshire
2012 Sussex Berkshire
2013 Kent Sussex
2014 Nottinghamshire Middlesex
2015 Sussex Yorkshire
2016 Kent Warwickshire
2017 Lancashire Middlesex
2018 Middlesex Sussex
2019 Warwickshire Lancashire
2020 Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]

See also

Notes
  1. Joint team of Durham and Northumberland.[8]
  2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic

References
  1. "ECB Women's Twenty20 Cup Fixtures & Results". Play-Cricket. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  2. "Women's Regional Hubs to play for Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy". the Cricketer. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. "ECB Women's Twenty20 Cup". Play-Cricket. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  4. "ECB Women's Twenty20 Cup". Play-Cricket. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  5. "Women's Regional Hubs to play for Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy". the Cricketer. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  6. "Deep Dive: Women's County Cricket in 2021". CricketHer. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  7. "ECB Women's Twenty20 Cup Fixtures & Results". Play-Cricket. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  8. "Deep Dive: Women's County Cricket in 2021". CricketHer. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
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