NATWEST T20 BLAST

Natwest T20 Blast 2017 to kick off from July 7

• Published on

The Finals Day of Natwest T20 Blast 2017 will be hosted at Edgbaston © Cricbuzz

The constant tinkering with county cricket's schedule in recent years has been a bit like the Hokey Cokey: you put your schedule in, you take your schedule out, in, out, in, out and shake it all about. And this year is no different with more changes to the shape and feel of England's domestic season, confirmed today (November 24) with the release of next season's Natwest T20 Blast fixtures. The remaining county schedule will be released later this evening.

In a change to last year's format, the group stages of next year's Blast will take place in a six-week block, starting on July 7 and ending on August 18, aimed to coincide with the best of the English summer weather and the school holidays. There will be no 50-over cricket throughout the group stages to distract and minimal Championship action too.

The quarter-finals will be played the week after the end of the group stages and Finals Day, which will be hosted at Edgbaston as last season, will take place on September 2. The competition format has not changed, with two groups - North and South - of nine teams, each playing 14 group games. In all, there will be 133 matches, 86 of which will be played under floodlights.

Reigning Champions Northamptonshire start their campaign at home against Derbyshire and then two days later will take on last season's runners-up Durham at The Riverside. The two losing semi-finalists from last year's competition, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, will play each other on the first match day and the best team from the last season's South group, Gloucestershire, open their campaign at home to Championship winners Middlesex.

Other notable fixtures are the two Roses matches between Yorkshire and Lancashire on July 14 at Old Trafford and at Headingley on August 11, and the London derbies between Surrey and Middlesex at Lord's on July 13 and at The Kia Oval on July 21. There will also be matches at several outgrounds including Arundel, Beckenham, Chesterfield and Cheltenham.

Whilst the school holidays and weather are important for drawing crowds in, the new format is also intended to allow the players to focus better on specific formats of the game, to develop their skills in practice and matchplay without constantly swapping between 50 and 20-over cricket and the County Championship.

Several prominent players such as Alex Hales have been vocal in their support for a block of T20 fixtures for just that reason and it is a persuasive argument. Whatever the advantages for the players, though and the intention of attracting kids in the holidays, the new schedule does carry the risk that families will not be able to afford to attend a number of games in such a short space of time.

Derbyshire have three home games in six days starting July 25 and Leicestershire have five home games in 15 days at one stage. Last season, with the games spread over a two-month period, mainly on Friday evenings, expenditure was more easily spread out and planned for.

The new schedule also carries a risk for the counties themselves. In September, the ECB voted to continue to review a city-based franchise competition in the mould of the IPL and Australia's Big Bash. It is clear that the proposal has gained serious momentum and if next season's block of fixtures, which would be similar to the schedule for any new competition, works for players and spectators, it would give a serious boost to the proposal.

Natwest T20 Blast 2017, Full Schedule:

© Cricbuzz