18 county teams compete in the T20 Blast 2026 (Vitality Blast), split into three regional groups: North, Central, and South.
The tournament runs from 22 May to 18 July 2026, with Somerset entering as defending champions after winning their third title in 2025.
This guide covers every team’s squad, key players, overseas signings, home grounds, and group placements for the 24th edition of England’s biggest domestic T20 competition.
T20 Blast 2026: Quick Tournament Overview
Before jumping into the teams, here is a snapshot of how the 2026 Vitality Blast is structured this season.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Vitality T20 Blast 2026 |
| Season | 24th edition |
| Organizer | England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) |
| Start Date | 22 May 2026 |
| Finals Day | 18 July 2026 |
| Total Matches | 115 (108 group + 4 QFs + 2 SFs + 1 Final) |
| Groups | 3 groups of 6 teams (North, Central, South) |
| Matches per Team | 12 (10 within group + 2 cross-group) |
| Defending Champions | Somerset (3rd title, won in 2025) |
| Format | Twenty20 |
The biggest change this year? The ECB has switched from two groups of nine to three groups of six.
Consequently, this brings back regional rivalries and tighter group-stage races.
Moreover, the entire tournament wraps up before The Hundred begins, so there is no scheduling overlap or player availability conflict.
All 18 T20 Blast 2026 Teams at a Glance
Here is the complete group-wise breakdown of all T20 Blast 2026 teams, their key players, and home venues.
| Group | Team | Key Players | Home Ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | Derbyshire Falcons | Samit Patel, Aneurin Donald, Wayne Madsen | County Ground, Derby |
| North | Durham | Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Matthew Potts | Riverside, Chester-le-Street |
| North | Lancashire Lightning | Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt | Old Trafford, Manchester |
| North | Leicestershire Foxes | Rehan Ahmed, Shan Masood, Peter Handscomb | Grace Road, Leicester |
| North | Notts Outlaws | Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke, Ishan Kishan | Trent Bridge, Nottingham |
| North | Yorkshire | Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow | Headingley, Leeds |
| Central | Glamorgan | Marnus Labuschagne, Imad Wasim, Shoaib Bashir | Sophia Gardens, Cardiff |
| Central | Gloucestershire | Cameron Green, Marchant de Lange, D’Arcy Short | County Ground, Bristol |
| Central | Northamptonshire Steelbacks | Yuzvendra Chahal, David Willey, Ravi Bopara | County Ground, Northampton |
| Central | Somerset (Defending Champions) | Tom Banton, Will Smeed, Matt Henry | County Ground, Taunton |
| Central | Warwickshire Bears | Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jacob Bethell | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
| Central | Worcestershire Rapids | Henry Nicholls, Ben Dwarshuis, Jake Libby | New Road, Worcester |
| South | Essex | Mohammad Amir, Shardul Thakur, Dean Elgar | County Ground, Chelmsford |
| South | Hampshire Hawks | Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Washington Sundar | The Rose Bowl, Southampton |
| South | Kent Spitfires | Zak Crawley, Matt Parkinson, Fred Klaassen | St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury |
| South | Middlesex | Kane Williamson, Ryan Higgins, Luke Hollman | Lord’s, London |
| South | Surrey | Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Adam Zampa | Kennington Oval, London |
| South | Sussex Sharks | Jofra Archer, Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat | County Ground, Hove |
T20 Blast 2026 Format: How the New Three-Group System Works
The 2026 Vitality Blast has switched from two groups of nine to three groups of six.
Here is what that means for the tournament structure.
Each team plays 12 group-stage matches: 10 within their group (home and away against each of the other five teams) and 2 cross-group fixtures.
The top two teams from each group qualify directly for the quarter-finals.
The two best third-placed teams also advance, making it eight teams in the knockouts.
Quarter-finals are scheduled for 15 July 2026.
Then, the four winners head to Finals Day on 18 July 2026, where both semi-finals and the final are played on the same day at Edgbaston.
This is a significant format improvement over previous editions.
The entire competition runs in one uninterrupted block before The Hundred begins, reducing scheduling conflicts and player burnout.
North Group Teams
The North Group arguably has the most firepower this season.
1. Derbyshire Falcons
Squad: Ben Aitchison, Martin Andersson, Amrit Basra, Yousaf Bin Naeem, Pat Brown, Harry Came, Zak Chappell, Anuj Dal, Aneurin Donald, AM Ghazanfar, Brooke Guest (WK), Joe Hawkins, Rory Haydon, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Caleb Jewell, David Lloyd, Wayne Madsen, Matthew Montgomery, Harry Moore, Jack Morley, Samit Patel, Nick Potts, Luis Reece, Alex Thomson, Blair Tickner, Mitch Wagstaff, Ross Whiteley
2. Durham
Squad: Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, Will Alexander, Archie Bailey, Jake Ball, David Bedingham, Jack Blatherwick, Scott Borthwick, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Sam Conners, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, Brendan Doggett, George Drissell, Zak Foulkes, Emilio Gay, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Daniel Hogg, Mitch Killeen, Alex Lees, Stanley McAlindon, Ben McKinney, James Minto, Jimmy Neesham, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Luke Robinson, Ollie Robinson (WK), Nathan Sowter, Ben Stokes, Neil Wagner, Mark Wood, Codi Yusuf
3. Lancashire Lightning
Squad: James Anderson, Tom Aspinwall, Tom Bailey, George Balderson, Charlie Barnard, George Bell (WK), Jack Blatherwick, Josh Bohannon, Josh Boyden, Jos Buttler (WK), Rocky Flintoff, Kesh Fonseka, Chris Green, Luke Hands, Marcus Harris, Tom Hartley, Matty Hurst (WK), Keaton Jennings, Michael Jones, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Joe Moores (WK), Anderson Phillip, Phil Salt, Arav Shetty, Harry Singh, Mitch Stanley, Ollie Sutton, Ashton Turner, John Turner, Luke Wells, Will Williams, Luke Wood
4. Leicestershire Foxes
Squad: Rehan Ahmed, Sol Budinger, Ben Cox (WK), Stephen Eskinazi, Alex Green, Ben Green, Peter Handscomb (WK), Lewis Hill (WK), Ian Holland, Josh Hull, Louis Kimber (WK), Ben Mike, Rishi Patel, Matt Salisbury, Tom Scriven, Shan Masood, Jonty Tattersall (WK), Josh Thomas, Liam Trevaskis, Logan van Beek, Roman Walker, Sam Wood, Chris Wright
5. Notts Outlaws
Squad: Muhammad Abbas, Farhan Ahmed, Joe Clarke (WK), Ben Duckett (WK), Tom Giles, Haseeb Hameed, Calvin Harrison, Byron Hatton-Lowe, James Hayes, Jack Haynes, Moises Henriques, Travis Holland, Brett Hutton, Lyndon James, Sammy King, Ishan Kishan (WK), Rob Lord, Freddie McCann, Conor McKerr, Ben Martindale, Matthew Montgomery, Francis Moore, Fergus O’Neill, Liam Patterson-White, Dillon Pennington, Joe Pocklington, Daniel Sams, Dane Schadendorf (WK), Sam Seecharan, Ben Slater, Olly Stone, Josh Tongue, Kyle Verreynne (WK)
6. Yorkshire
Squad: Abdullah Shafique, Mayank Agarwal, Jawad Akhtar, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Finlay Bean (WK), Will Bennison, Dom Bess, Harry Brook, Jordan Buckingham, Jafer Chohan, Ben Cliff, Ben Coad, Harry Duke (WK), Matthew Firbank, Ruturaj Gaikwad, George Hill, Imam-ul-Haq, Noah Kelly (WK), Will Luxton, Adam Lyth, Dawid Malan, Matt Milnes, Dan Moriarty, Will O’Rourke, Adil Rashid, Matthew Revis, Joe Root, Ben Sears, Will Sutherland, Jonny Tattersall (WK), Jordan Thompson, Yash Vagadia, Alex Wade, James Wharton, Jack White
Central Group Teams
The Central Group features defending champions Somerset alongside 2024 winners Gloucestershire.
7. Glamorgan
Squad: Shoaib Bashir, Tom Bevan, Eddie Byrom, Kiran Carlson, Chris Cooke (WK), Mason Crane, Dan Douthwaite, Asitha Fernando, Romano Franco, Andy Gorvin, James Harris, Henry Hurle (WK), Imad Wasim, Colin Ingram, Ben Kellaway (WK), Hayden Kerr, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Ned Leonard, Jamie McIlroy, Ben Morris, Callum Nicholls, Sam Northeast, Tom Norton, Billy Root, Will Smale (WK), Asa Tribe, Zain ul Hassan, Timm van der Gugten
8. Gloucestershire
Squad: Daz Ahmed, Zaman Akhter, Archie Bailey, Cameron Bancroft (WK), Tommy Boorman, James Bracey (WK), Ben Charlesworth, Luke Charlesworth, Marchant de Lange, Chris Dent, Kamran Dhariwal, Dylan Driscoll, Dom Goodman, Cameron Green, Miles Hammond, Alfie Johnson, Ed Middleton, Craig Miles, Todd Murphy, Robbie O’Donnell, David Payne, Luke Pearson-Taylor, Joe Phillips, Ollie Price, Tom Price, Aman Rao, Josh Shaw, D’Arcy Short, Ajeet Singh Dale, Tom Smith, Ahmed Syed, Jack Taylor, Matt Taylor, James Trodd, Graeme van Buuren
9. Northamptonshire Steelbacks
Squad: Ashton Agar, George Bartlett, Ravi Bopara, Matthew Breetzke (WK), Justin Broad, Arush Buchake (WK), Yuzvendra Chahal, Harry Conway, Liam Guthrie, Calvin Harrison, Freddie Heldreich, Rob Keogh, Dom Leech, Tiaan Louw, Gus Miller, Krish Patel, Lloyd Pope, Luke Procter, Nirvan Ramesh, Kaif Ramzan, Lewis Reeder, Tim Robinson, James Sales, Ben Sanderson, George Scrimshaw, Aadi Sharma, Jordan Strydom, Stuart van der Merwe, Aryaman Varma, Ricardo Vasconcelos (WK), Raphy Weatherall, Ben Whitehouse, David Willey, Saif Zaib
10. Somerset (Defending Champions)
Squad: Tom Abell, Kasey Aldridge, Jake Ball, Tom Banton (WK), Shoaib Bashir, Oscar Coleman, Josh Davey, Sean Dickson, Lewis Goldsworthy, Ben Green, Lewis Gregory, Matt Henry, Fin Hill, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Lammonby, Jack Leach, Seb Linnitt, Riley Meredith, Bertie Michael, Alfie Ogborne, Craig Overton, Migael Pretorius, James Rew (WK), Thomas Rew (WK), Kian Roberts (WK), Will Smeed, James Theedom, Josh Thomas, Andy Umeed, Archie Vaughan, Zach Vukusic
11. Warwickshire Bears
Squad: Moeen Ali, Taz Ali, Ethan Bamber, Ed Barnard, Jacob Bethell, Ben Blakemore, Michael Booth, Danny Briggs, Alex Davies (WK), Vishwa Fernando, George Garton, Levi Gekis, Nathan Gilchrist, Richard Gleeson, Sam Hain, Olly Hannon-Dalby, Hassan Ali, Vansh Jani, Tom Latham (WK), Jake Lintott, Zen Malik, Craig Miles, Dan Mousley, Corey Rocchiccioli, Chris Rushworth, Hamza Shaikh, Che Simmons, Kai Smith (WK), Adam Sylvester, Beau Webster, Chris Woakes, Theo Wylie, Rob Yates, Will Young
12. Worcestershire Rapids
Squad: Ben Allison, Ethan Brookes, Yadvinder Singh, Toby Cox, Henry Cullen (WK), Harry Darley, Brett D’Oliveira, Jacob Duffy, Ben Dwarshuis, Rehaan Edavalath, Adam Finch, Bernie Foreman, Ben Gibbon, Henry Hawes, Tom Hinley, Jack Home, Adam Hose, Rob Jones, Kashif Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Dan Lategan, Jake Libby, Isaac Mohammed, Henry Nicholls, Callum Parkinson, Ed Pollock, Gareth Roderick (WK), Fateh Singh, Tom Taylor, Matthew Waite
South Group Teams
The South Group is loaded with London-based teams and some of the strongest squads in the competition.
13. Essex
Squad: Khaleel Ahmed, Charlie Allison, Mohammad Amir, Luc Benkenstein, Charlie Bennett, Doug Bracewell, Nick Browne, Curtis Campher, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox (WK), Matt Critchley, Robin Das, Dean Elgar, Simon Fernandes (WK), Daniel Gladwell, Simon Harmer, Mackenzie Jones, Michael Pepper (WK), Jamie Porter, Kasun Rajitha, Jamal Richards, Adam Rossington (WK), Shane Snater, Noah Thain, Shardul Thakur, Paul Walter, Tom Westley
14. Hampshire Hawks
Squad: Kyle Abbott, Toby Albert (WK), Sonny Baker, Keith Barker, Dewald Brevis, Ben Brown (WK), Hilton Cartwright, Scott Currie, Liam Dawson, Joseph Eckland (WK), Jack Edwards, Bjorn Fortuin, James Fuller, Nick Gubbins, Brett Hampton, Benny Howell, Eddie Jack, Dom Kelly, Chris Lynn, Brandon McMullen, Ben Mayes, Reicha Middleton, Andrew Neal, Felix Organ, Ali Orr, Tom Prest, Lhuan-dre Pretorius (WK), Mark Stoneman, Tilak Varma, John Turner, James Vince, Washington Sundar, Joe Weatherley, Brad Wheal, Chris Wood
15. Kent Spitfires
Squad: Wes Agar, Jake Ball, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Chris Benjamin (WK), Mikey Cohen, Ben Compton, Zak Crawley, Olly Curtiss, Ben Dawkins (WK), Jaydn Denly, Joe Denly, Keith Dudgeon, Joey Evison, Harry Finch, Corey Flintoff, George Garrett, Nathan Gilchrist, Kashif Ali, Fred Klaassen, Jack Leaning, Tawanda Muyeye, Alfie Ogborne, Marcus O’Riordan (WK), Matt Parkinson, Matt Quinn, Jamal Richards, Mo Rizvi, Tom Rogers, Ekansh Singh, Jas Singh, Grant Stewart
16. Middlesex
Squad: Henry Brookes, Noah Cornwell, Joe Cracknell (WK), Blake Cullen, Josh de Caires, Leus du Plooy, Stephen Eskinazi, Jamie Feldman, Nathan Fernandes, Ben Geddes, Nathan Gilchrist, Zafar Gohar, Tom Helm, Ryan Higgins, Max Holden, Luke Hollman, Ishaan Kaushal, Josh Little, Seb Morgan, Dane Paterson, Sam Robson, Toby Roland-Jones, Aaryan Sawant, Naavya Sharma, Olly Stone, Kane Williamson
17. Surrey
Squad: Ralphie Albert, Gus Atkinson, Nathan Barnwell, Josh Blake (WK), Rory Burns (WK), Rahul Chahar, Jordan Clark, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Matt Dunn, Tommy Falham, Laurie Evans, Matt Fisher, Ben Foakes (WK), Alex French, Nikhil Gorantla, Luke Griffiths, Ollie Hunt, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Ari Karvelas, Tom Lawes, Dan Lawrence, Yousef Majid, Jamie Overton, Oliver Pascall (WK), Ryan Patel, Kurtis Patterson, Ollie Pope (WK), Kemar Roach, Jason Roy, Sai Kishore, Mitch Santner, Dom Sibley, Jamie Smith (WK), Nathan Smith, Cameron Steel, Seb Stuart-Reckling, Ollie Sykes, James Taylor, Adam Thomas, Reece Topley, Dan Worrall, Adam Zampa
18. Sussex Sharks
Squad: Tom Alsop, Jofra Archer, Jack Carson, Tom Clark, James Coles, Henry Crocombe, Brad Currie, Bertie Foreman, Tom Haines, James Hayes, Troy Henry, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Daniel Hughes, Sean Hunt, Danial Ibrahim, Ari Karvelas, Danny Lamb, Archie Lenham, Zach Lion-Cachet, Nathan McAndrew, Tymal Mills, Ollie Moore, Nantes Oosthuizen, Ollie Robinson, Henry Rogers, Gurinder Sandhu, Jayden Seales, John Simpson (WK), Charlie Tear, George Thomas, Jaydev Unadkat, Harrison Ward
Top Overseas Players to Watch in T20 Blast 2026
One of the biggest draws of the Vitality Blast is the overseas talent it attracts every year.
Here are the standout international names across all three groups for 2026.
| Player | Team | Role | Why Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kane Williamson (NZ) | Middlesex | Batter | NZ captain, brings class and experience to Lord’s |
| Cameron Green (AUS) | Gloucestershire | All-rounder | Pace-bowling all-rounder, 2024 champions’ key recruit |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad (IND) | Yorkshire | Batter | CSK captain in IPL, consistent run-scorer |
| Tilak Varma (IND) | Hampshire Hawks | Batter | Explosive middle-order left-hander |
| Yuzvendra Chahal (IND) | Northamptonshire | Spinner | All-time leading IPL wicket-taker |
| Mohammad Amir (PAK) | Essex | Pacer | Left-arm swing, devastating with new ball |
| Shardul Thakur (IND) | Essex | All-rounder | Pace bowling plus handy lower-order hitting |
| Marnus Labuschagne (AUS) | Glamorgan | Batter | Australia’s No. 3, T20 adaptability improving |
| Dewald Brevis (SA) | Hampshire Hawks | Batter | Called ‘Baby AB’, big-hitting ability |
| Adam Zampa (AUS) | Surrey | Spinner | Australia’s premier white-ball leg-spinner |
| Ishan Kishan (IND) | Notts Outlaws | WK-Batter | Aggressive left-handed wicketkeeper-batter |
| Washington Sundar (IND) | Hampshire Hawks | All-rounder | Off-spin plus useful batting in powerplay |
Indian and Pakistani players are particularly well-represented this year.
That is great news for fans in the subcontinent who want to follow their favourites in English conditions.
T20 Blast Winners List: All Champions from 2003 to 2025
The T20 Blast has produced 14 different champions across 23 editions.
Leicestershire Foxes, Somerset, and Hampshire Hawks share the record with three titles each.
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Surrey Lions | Warwickshire Bears |
| 2004 | Leicestershire Foxes | Surrey Lions |
| 2005 | Somerset Sabres | Lancashire Lightning |
| 2006 | Leicestershire Foxes | Notts Outlaws |
| 2007 | Kent Spitfires | Gloucestershire |
| 2008 | Middlesex Crusaders | Kent Spitfires |
| 2009 | Sussex Sharks | Somerset Sabres |
| 2010 | Hampshire Royals | Somerset |
| 2011 | Leicestershire Foxes | Somerset |
| 2012 | Hampshire Royals | Yorkshire |
| 2013 | Northants Steelbacks | Surrey |
| 2014 | Birmingham Bears | Lancashire Lightning |
| 2015 | Lancashire Lightning | Northants Steelbacks |
| 2016 | Northants Steelbacks | Durham Jets |
| 2017 | Notts Outlaws | Birmingham Bears |
| 2018 | Worcestershire Rapids | Sussex Sharks |
| 2019 | Essex Eagles | Worcestershire Rapids |
| 2020 | Notts Outlaws | Surrey |
| 2021 | Kent Spitfires | Somerset |
| 2022 | Hampshire Hawks | Lancashire Lightning |
| 2023 | Somerset | Essex |
| 2024 | Gloucestershire | Somerset |
| 2025 | Somerset | Hampshire Hawks |
Yorkshire remain the most notable team to have never won the T20 Blast.
Despite consistently strong squads, the trophy has eluded them. Their 2026 squad, though, looks like their best shot yet.
Final Verdict
The T20 Blast 2026 features 18 teams, a new three-group format, and some of the strongest squads the competition has ever seen.
Yorkshire’s batting depth, Lancashire’s star power, and Surrey’s all-round strength make them early favourites.
However, Somerset know how to win this tournament, and Hampshire’s overseas trio could upset anyone.
With action running from 22 May to Finals Day on 18 July, the 24th edition promises to be a cracker.
