The ECB have announced the draw for the first-ever T20 Women's County Cup which is set to take place next year, revealing that finals day for the competition will clash with England's T20I series against the West Indies.
The new competition is part of the ECB's 'Project Darwin' restructure of women's domestic cricket in England and Wales. It will see the newly ranked Tier Two and Three counties take on the professional eight Tier One counties in an FA Cup style competition. In all, 37 teams will compete in the Cup, which will follow a knock-out format from the start.
Rounds one and two of the competition will be played exclusively between the lower tiered counties, with the first two rounds of fixtures taking place on Monday, May 5 and Saturday May 10 respectively. From round three onwards, the professional Tier One counties will join the fray, with six of those sides facing winners from the previous two rounds of the competition. That guarantees that at least two teams from Tiers Two or Three will feature in the quarter-finals, which will take place on Saturday, May 24.
While the schedule for the competition utilises the bank holidays across May to draw bigger crowds in, it does provide a clash with England women's T20I series against the West Indies, meaning several high-profile names will not be available for the later rounds of competition.
England begin their first series of the summer on May 21 in Canterbury, four days after the first fixtures which the professional Tier One sides will be involved in during the competition. The second match of the series takes place on May 23, the day before the quarter-finals are due to take place. The most unfortunate clash however, is on the Finals Day of the Cup.
Both semi-finals and the final will be played on the same day at Taunton on Monday, May 26. That is the same day that England play the final T20I of their series against West Indies in Chelmsford. That means that those players involved in that match will not be available for the first-ever Finals Day of the County Cup.
With a revamped domestic structure meaning more women's domestic matches than ever before will be played across the summer, scheduling clashes with international fixtures - which will not take place during the protected window for The Hundred - will be more likely. The fixtures for the inaugural edition of the women's Blast competition will be announced tomorrow (November 21).
T20 Women's County Cup 2025: Full fixtures list
Round One (Monday, May 5)
Match 1: Lincolnshire v Cheshire
Match 2: Staffordshire v Cumbria
Match 3: Northumberland – BYE
Match 4: Yorkshire v Derbyshire Falcons
Match 5: Leicestershire Foxes – BYE
Match 6: Shropshire v Norfolk
Match 7: Cambridgeshire v Herefordshire
Match 8: Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Worcestershire Rapids
Match 9: Sussex Sharks v Buckinghamshire
Match 10: Suffolk – BYE
Match 11: Hertfordshire v Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire
Match 12: Middlesex v Kent
Match 13: Cornwall v Berkshire
Match 14: Wiltshire v Oxfordshire
Match 15: Dorset v Devon
Match 16: Glamorgan v Gloucestershire
Round Two (Saturday, May 10)
Match 17: Yorkshire or Derbyshire Falcons v Staffordshire or Cumbria
Match 18: Leicestershire Foxes v Lincolnshire or Cheshire
Match 19: Shropshire or Norfolk v Northamptonshire Steelbacks or Worcestershire Rapids
Match 20: Northumberland v Cambridgeshire or Herefordshire
Match 21: Glamorgan or Gloucestershire v Sussex Sharks or Buckinghamshire
Match 22: Cornwall or Berkshire v Middlesex or Kent
Match 23: Wiltshire or Oxfordshire v Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire
Match 24: Devon or Dorset v Suffolk
Round Three (Saturday, May 17)
Match 25: Surrey v Hampshire Hawks
Match 26: Winner of Match 24 v Bears
Match 27: Winner of Match 19 v Winner of Match 18
Match 28: Winner of Match 21 v Lancashire Thunder
Match 29: Winner of Match 17 v Essex
Match 30: Winner of Match 23 v The Blaze
Match 31: Winner of Match 20 v Winner of Match 22
Match 32: Somerset v Durham
Quarter-finals (Saturday, May 24)
Match 33: Winner of Match 25 v Winner of Match 32
Match 34: Winner of Match 31 v Winner of Match 30
Match 35: Winner of Match 27 v Winner of Match 28
Match 36: Winner of Match 29 v Winner of Match 26
Finals Day (Monday, May 26, Taunton)
Match 37: Semi-Final 1: Winner of Match 35 v Winner of Match 34
Match 38: Semi-Final 2: Winner of Match 36 v Winner of Match 33
Match 39: Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup Final
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