Next summer will see the return of both the County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy after the First-Class Counties agreed a revised structure for next season.

Glamorgan are in Group 3 with Kent, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire and Sussex.

Here are some common questions with responses about both competitions to help you come to grips with the plans.

What are the formats for the competitions?

Every team will begin the season with the opportunity to win both the County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy. The County Championship will run in two stages:

Group Stage

The 18 First-Class Counties have been split into three seeded groups of six counties. Each county will play the other counties in their group both home and away – a total of 10 matches.

At the end of the group stage, the top two counties in each group will progress to Division One for the second phase of the County Championship.

The other 12 counties will move into Divisions Two and Three. The third and fourth-placed teams will progress to Division Two while the fifth and sixth-placed teams move to Division Three.

Division Stage

The First-Class Counties will play their final four County Championship matches after progressing to their Division.

How can a team win the County Championship?

The 2021 County Championship title will be decided by the team that finishes top of Division One.

How is the winner of the Bob Willis Trophy decided?

The top two teams in Division One will play for the Bob Willis Trophy in a five-day final at Lord’s to ensure a showpiece event to conclude the men’s first-class domestic season.

The playing conditions for the final are to be confirmed and will be announced in due course.

Which counties are in the three County Championship groups?

All three groups have six teams, shown in order of seeding:

Group 1: Essex, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Durham

Group 2: Somerset, Hampshire, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Leicestershire Group

Group 3: Kent, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Glamorgan, Sussex

The three groups for the 2021 County Championship

How were the groups decided?

Seedings for the Group Stage of the 2021 County Championship have been determined based on performances during the 2019 County Championship and the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy.

There has been a provision to accommodate derby matches within the groups, where appropriate with the seeding structure. This is to ensure that county members and supporters can look forward to some of county cricket’s oldest rivalries resuming home and away next summer.

Could a team win both titles?

Yes. Glamorgan (+16 others) will be competing to prevent Essex defending both titles after winning the 2019 County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy this summer.

The full fixture list for the 2021 season, and the playing conditions for the men’s first-class season, will be announced in due course.

Thursday August 27th 2020 18:30 BST, Sophia Gardens Cardiff, Cardiff

Glamorgan vs Worcestershire Rapids

Saturday August 29th 2020 14:00 BST, The Bristol County Ground, Bristol

Gloucestershire vs Glamorgan

Sunday August 30th 2020 14:00 BST, Sophia Gardens Cardiff, Cardiff

Glamorgan vs Birmingham Bears

Tuesday September 1st 2020 18:30 BST, The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton

Somerset CCC vs Glamorgan

Thursday September 3rd 2020 18:30 BST, Edgbaston, Birmingham

Steelbacks vs Glamorgan

Friday September 11th 2020 18:30 BST, Edgbaston, Birmingham

Birmingham Bears vs Glamorgan

Sunday September 13th 2020 14:00 BST, Sophia Gardens Cardiff, Cardiff

Glamorgan vs Steelbacks

Wednesday September 16th 2020 18:30 BST, Sophia Gardens Cardiff, Cardiff

Glamorgan vs Somerset CCC

Friday September 18th 2020 18:30 BST, Sophia Gardens Cardiff, Cardiff

Glamorgan vs Gloucestershire

Sunday September 20th 2020 13:00 BST, Blackfinch New Road, Worcester

Worcestershire Rapids vs Glamorgan

Thursday October 1st 2020 18:30 BST, Venues: TBC

Quarter Final 1, Vitality Blast 2020 TBC v TBC

Quarter Final 2, Vitality Blast 2020 TBC v TBC

Quarter Final 3, Vitality Blast 2020 TBC v TBC

Quarter Final 4, Vitality Blast 2020 TBC v TBC

Vitality Blast Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday 3 October 2020

For more information:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/1751561

https://www.glamorgancricket.com/news/glamorgan-gears-up-for-vitality-blast

The Bob Willis Trophy will hold first-class status, but is a separate competition from the County Championship, and will comprise three regionalised groups, consisting of six counties per group. Glamorgan are in the Central Group with Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

The First Class Counties will play five group-stage matches – one against each county in their group – with the two group winners with the most points set to progress to a five-day final.

AUGUST (11:00 BST)

1st – 4th Somerset, Taunton, Coopers Associates County Ground

8th – 11th Worcestershire, Worcester, Blackfinch New Road

15th – 18th Gloucestershire, Cardiff, Sophia Gardens

22nd – 25th Northamptonshire, Northampton, The County Ground

SEPTEMBER (10:30 BST)

6th – 9th Warwickshire, Cardiff, Sophia Gardens

FINAL – Wednesday 23 September 2020, a 5 day fixture to be held at Lord’s

Playing conditions 

The domestic competitions will be staged under strict health and safety protocols with the Bob Willis Trophy also set to feature ECB Board-approved changes to playing conditions to help ensure the wellbeing of players, most significantly fast bowlers, following the long lay-off due to COVID-19.

The playing conditions have been put in place following extensive medical research and in collaboration with the First-Class Counties and the Professional Cricketers’ Association, and include:

• A reduction from a minimum of 96 overs to a minimum of 90 overs in a day’s play
• Each county’s first innings of a match can last no longer than 120 overs
• The follow-on will increase from 150 to 200 runs
• The new ball will be available after 90 overs rather than 80 overs

How to watch / follow:

At this moment members and supporters will not be able to attend in person at Sophia Gardens it will however be possible to watch Glamorgan’s home fixtures on the Glamorgan live stream utility. It is likely that the other counties will have similar arrangements. Please refer to the ECB link below for further information on this topic.

Update on the Vitality Blast

The fixtures for the Vitality Blast Competition have been confirmed and released, the competition is set to start on the 27th August currently scheduled behind closed doors. See separate post for details.

Further links:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/1738201/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-bob-willis-trophy

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/1738199/bob-willis-trophy-fixtures-announced

https://www.glamorgancricket.com/news/glamorgan-announce-bob-willis-trophy-fixtures

7 JULY 2020

The ECB has released the following announcement for the 2020 cricket season:

The First-Class Counties have agreed to play both red-ball and white-ball cricket during this summer’s shortened men’s domestic season.

A majority vote was reached at a meeting of the FCC chairs today following approval by the ECB Board last month for the new season to commence on August 1.

Today’s agreement by the FCCs will be passed on for ECB Board approval in the coming days after which the details of the new fixture schedule will be drawn up and then announced.

The safety and wellbeing of all players, staff and officials remains the priority of the ECB and all FCCs will undergo further medical risk assessments and venue compliance approval as planning progresses to ensure safe environments for the start of the men’s domestic season.

Ticket holders for men’s domestic matches and FCC members are set to be contacted by venues with the options available to them after a new fixture schedule is announced.