A total of 37 teams across all three tiers will contest new ‘FA Cup-style’ T20 competition
The Blaze pose with the Charlotte Edwards Cup • Getty Images
A total of 37 teams have learned their paths in the new Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup competition starting in England and Wales next year.
The knockout competition will take place across May, involving sides from all three tiers of domestic women’s cricket and using the Bank Holidays at the beginning and end of the month to decide the first domestic silverware of 2025.
In the first year of a revamped women’s domestic structure, Tier 1 teams will enter the competition at Round Three. As it is a knock-out contest, teams in Tier 2 and Tier 3 have a chance to eliminate the fully professional Tier 1 sides en route to Finals Day, featuring both semi-finals and the final at Taunton on Monday, May 26.
Round One will be played on Monday, May 5, and Round Two on Saturday, May 10. With two Round Three ties featuring clashes between Tier 1 sides – including Surrey vs Hampshire Hawks – on May 17, the competition is guaranteed to have at least two teams from Tiers 2 or 3 in the quarter-finals a week later.
England batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who recently joined Surrey from the Hampshire-based Southern Vipers, was excited by the prospect of that battle.
“I’d love to play in that one,” Wyatt-Hodge said from South Africa where England were preparing to begin their multi-format series with Sunday’s first T20I in East London. “I’m really delighted with my move to Surrey, they are a massive club and it will be an honour to play for Surrey. We’ve got a lot of cricket to play before then, but exciting times ahead for sure.”
“It’s massive, it makes every game very exciting, FA-Cup style,” she added of the new competition. “Women’s cricket is going to the next level in England so it’s great to see and great to be a part of it.”
The highlight of Round One looms as a clash between cross-town rivals Middlesex and Kent, who both missed out on gaining Tier 1 status for their counties during the first phase of the restructure which runs from the 2025 season to 2028.
The T20 Women’s County Cup will be played in addition to the Vitality Blast women’s T20 competition featuring only Tier 1 sides, with fixtures to be released on Thursday.
T20 Women’s County Cup fixtures
ROUND ONE (May 5)
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 (May 10)
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 (May 17)
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 (May 24)
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 (May 26, 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: Final
