That's what happened when it was previously three groups.
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English Domestic Season 2026
- Thread starter Third_Man
- Start date
chris.hinton
International Captain
Always great to beat Warwickshire and win back the Norman Gifford Trophy (Well Warwickshire forgot to bring it with them)
chris.hinton
International Captain
Taylor is such a good bowler for Worcestershire feel if he was half a yard quicker he would get into an England squad
Blenkinsop
State Vice-Captain
Can someone explain this Blast setup whereby the teams are in groups but sometimes play teams from other groups?
As so often, it is explained by money.
The logical thing to do would be to have 10 group fixtures each but that would be too great a drop from 14 per side which it was previously.
Consequently there was this wierd compromise in which each side has one home and one away match against a random team from another group.
mackembhoy
International Vice-Captain
As the Northern group has been the poorer of the two in recent times. I think it's a good step to help improve the competition. Give matchups that have never happened or a couple of times.
But when half of the Midlands group used to be in the same group as the North/South teams I'm not sure why they didn't make sure they didn't do a fixture from last year.
Durham playing Northants again when never played Somerset and Essex for example.
chris.hinton
International Captain
Why reduce the fixtures... The players "Welfare" was the reason but they will be happy to get contracts in USA or whereever and play there.
Blenkinsop
State Vice-Captain
you are right to fear the mighty Steelbacks.
Third_Man
State Vice-Captain
Agree but looking at the results in the cross pool involving old Northern Group sides:
Surrey 213/6 beat Lancs 154 by 59 runs.
Worcs 188/9 beat Leics 170/4 by 18 runs => both used to be in North group
Gloucs 217/6 beat Yorks 161 beat 56 runs.
Essex 179/5 beat Derbys 173 by 5 wickets.
In all three old N v S, the N team has been all out. None were low scoring.
Difficult to believe that all Southern teams are massively better than all Northern teams to such an extent that Gloucestershire can easily beat the previously unbeaten Yorkshire at Headingley?
mackembhoy
International Vice-Captain
The south group teams are all miles better than the North group teams. Since Notts won in 2020 only Lancs, Yorkshire and Northants have made finals day totalling 4/20 being North group teams. Only one finalist from the North group and 5 wins in a row from the South.
Them playing each other more will help to close the gap. Even if lose all of them this season. Over time will improve the standard they play at.
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Blenkinsop
State Vice-Captain
The north / south mismatch isn't only a T20 thing though. There have been only two northern winners of the County Championship in the last ten years. Small southern counties like Somerset and Essex manage to remain consistently in the top half of Div 1 year on year whilst big northern counties with Test grounds yo-yo back and forth between divisions.
Third_Man
State Vice-Captain
It's also arguably evident in new Knights-Stokes Cup although in reverse.
Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup | MCC
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Northern County Boards have managed to promote this much more within their schools. Yorkshire and Lancashire have over 70 schools involved next best Middlesex and Surrey (thanks to London no doubt) but some way behind. Minor Counties led by Cheshire and Staffordshire.
Some counties appear to working much more with their private schools which underlines the North South divide and probably explains why the Southern counties dominate compared to the days of yore when cricket was more widely played in schools.
Third_Man
State Vice-Captain
Lancashire's pitch for the Middlesex game (Lancs lost) has been marked as below average. No mention of any points deduction, immediate or suspended.
cricket.lancashirecricket.co.uk
Back to 5 day pitches at OT was the rest of the season?
Response to the Cricket Regulator's decision on the Emirates Old Trafford pitch
cricket.lancashirecricket.co.uk
Back to 5 day pitches at OT was the rest of the season?
Would love to know exactly what criteria they base that judgement on. Are they measuring movement of the pitch, variable bounce or is it just how many runs are scored per wicket?Lancashire's pitch for the Middlesex game (Lancs lost) has been marked as below average. No mention of any points deduction, immediate or suspended.
Response to the Cricket Regulator's decision on the Emirates Old Trafford pitch
Back to 5 day pitches at OT was the rest of the season?
chris.hinton
International Captain
The Surrey team that battered Middlesex was very strong
Chin Music
International Debutant
With respect, the bigger issue was that Middlesex were shocking. I'm not sure Surrey's batting lineup for t20 is THAT consistently strong from what I saw last night. They have a Jason Roy whose best days finished about 4 years ago, Evans similar and Pope who isn't really a t20 player. Their bowling attack was good for the conditions though.
Third_Man
State Vice-Captain
See: https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/doc...-86d4-539e60106647/Pitch-Regulations-2026.pdf
Unevenness Seam - "more than occasional"
Movement - "regular"
Carry and/or Bounce - "minimal"
Turn - "considerable"
".....Fulfilment of the lowest criteria will determine the overall rating for the Pitch. For example, if the Pitch demonstrates:
4.3.1 no unevenness of bounce at any stage throughout the Match; and
4.3.2 at most, occasional seam movement at all stages of the Match; and
4.3.3 moderate turn from the protected area throughout the Match; but
4.3.4 lacks carry and/or bounce on the first or second playing days of the Match,
then it must be rated “Below Average” due to the failure to meet a higher carry and/or bounce criterion."
For me its slightly unclear as to whether one of those criteria leads to below average or all of them? If its only one then that is too harsh imo.
The top 5 were all internationals and there were eight capped players in the side as a whole. Not all current or in the T20 format, I acknowledge, but still very strong for a county.
It is also true though that Middlesex have been consistently terrible at T20 since its inception, the aberration of 2008 aside.
Chin Music
International Debutant
If you ask me, the A listers regarding batting for Surrey would be the Curran bros and Jacks. That is probably above what most Blast sides possess and the Curran bros were of course originally bowlers!