The 2017 NatWest T20 Blast is the current Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. It is the fourth season of in which the domestic T20 competition, run by the ECB, has been branded as the NatWest t20 Blast. The league consists of the 18 first-class county teams divided into two divisions of nine teams each with fixtures played between July and September. The final is scheduled to take place at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on 2 September 2017.
Competition format
18 teams will compete for the T20 title. Teams are initially split into 2 divisions (North and South), each containing 9 teams, for the group stage of the competition. During the group stage (from July to September) each club plays 6 of the other teams in the same division twice, once at a home stadium and once at a home ground of their opponents. They play the other two teams only once, for a total of 14 games each. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a tie or if the match is abandoned. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then net run rate. At the end of the group stage, the top four teams from each group enter the knockout stage.[1][2]
