| 2021 Vitality Blast | |
| Fromdate: | 9 June |
| Todate: | 18 September 2021 |
| Administrator: | England and Wales Cricket Board |
| Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
| Tournament Format: | Group stage and knockout |
| Champions: | Kent Spitfires |
| Count: | 2 |
| Participants: | 18 |
| Matches: | 133 |
| Most Runs: | Josh Inglis (531) (Leicestershire Foxes) |
| Most Wickets: | Naveen-ul-Haq (26) (Leicestershire Foxes) |
| Previous Year: | 2020 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2020 T20 Blast |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
| Next Tournament: | 2022 T20 Blast |
| Website: | Vitality Blast |
The 2021 Vitality Blast was the ninteenth edition of the T20 Blast currently known as the Vitality Blast,[1] a professional Twenty20 cricket league played in England and Wales.[2] run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), that was branded as the Vitality Blast due to the tournament's sponsorship deal.[3] The Notts Outlaws were the defending champions.[4]
In June 2021, Samit Patel, playing for the Notts Outlaws, became the first English player to do the double in T20 cricket of taking 250 wickets and scoring 5,000 runs.[5] [6]
In July 2021, Derbyshire's match against Essex in the 2021 County Championship was abandoned before the start of day two due to a positive COVID-19 case in the squad.[7] As a result, Derbyshire's final two T20 Blast group-stage games, against the Northants Steelbacks and the Yorkshire Vikings, were also cancelled.[8] [9] Therefore, the North Group qualifications were decided based on an average points per completed match basis.[10]
Following matches completed on 9 July 2021, the Notts Outlaws were the first team to qualify from the North Group for the quarter-finals.[11] On the same day, they were joined by the Kent Spitfires from the South Group.[12] After the matches completed on 16 July 2021, the Yorkshire Vikings from the North Group had qualified,[13] along with Somerset from the South Group.[14] On 17 July 2021, Lancashire Lightning won the Roses Match against the Yorkshire Vikings to qualify from the North Group.[15] On the final day of group stage matches, the Birmingham Bears from the North Group,[16] [17] and the Sussex Sharks and the Hampshire Hawks from the South Group had all qualified for the quarter-finals.[18] [19]
In the first quarter-final match, the Sussex Sharks beat the Yorkshire Vikings to become the first team to reach Finals Day.[20] The Hampshire Hawks reached the Finals Day, after they knocked out defending champions the Notts Outlaws in the second quarter-final match.[21] Somerset became the third team to reach Finals Day, after they defeated the Lancashire Lightning in their quarter-final match.[22] In the last quarter-final match, the Kent Spitfires beat the Birmingham Bears to progress to the Finals Day.[23] It was the first time in the tournament's history that all the teams taking part in Finals Day had come from the South Group.[24]
On Finals Day, Somerset beat Hampshire Hawks by two wickets in the first semi-final to advance into the final.[25] In the second semi-final, Kent Spitfires beat the Sussex Sharks by 21 runs to advance.[26] It was the first time that Kent had reached the domestic T20 final since the 2008 tournament.[27] In the final, the Kent Spitfires beat Somerset by 25 runs to win the tournament and their second domestic T20 title.[28]
Each county played seven matches at home, and seven matches away, with the top four counties in each group progressing to the Quarter-finals. The top two ranked counties from each group will host the Quarter-finals, to play against the lower-seeded team in other group.[3]
The teams were placed into the following groups:[3]
Source:[29]
Source:[29]
Source:[32]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
advances to Quarter-Finals
advances to Quarter-Finals
------------
----
