T20 Blast Finals Day set for October 3

The showpiece event will take place at its traditional home of Edgbaston a week later than initially planned, with the Bob Willis Trophy final set to be staged between September 23 and 27 at Lord's

Full T20 Blast fixture list

T20 Blast Finals Day will wrap up the 2020 English county season on October 3, the ECB have confirmed.

The showpiece event will take place at its traditional home of Edgbaston a week later than initially planned, with the Bob Willis Trophy final set to be staged between September 23 and 27 at Lord’s.

The final elements of the hastily rearranged domestic schedule were unveiled by the governing body on Wednesday, with the fixtures for the women’s 50-over competition - this year dubbed the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Tropy - also being released.

The T20 Blast group stage will be played behind closed doors in its entirety, with 10 matches screened live by Sky Sports, starting with Yorkshire Vikings against Notts Outlaws at Emerald Headingley on the tournament’s opening night - Thursday, August 27.

Eight of those 10 live games will take place at just three venues - Headingley, the Kia Oval and Edgbaston - but all 18 counties will feature on TV at least once, as numerous neutral double-headers are hosted at the Test-match grounds.

The Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford will host the two remaining live matches.

^{Essex are defending champions of the T20 Blast}

Any game which is not being broadcast by Sky will be allowed to be streamed live via the counties’ own digital platforms.

The knockout stages have been moved as late in the calendar as possible in order to give fans a chance to attend matches, should government restrictions be eased. The ECB remains in dialogue with the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport over the possibility of supporters returning this year.

As with the Bob Willis Trophy, the 18 sides will be split into three groups roughly based on their geography.

The North Group includes Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire; Northamptonshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan and Somerset make up the Central pool; while the South consists of Essex, Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Middlesex and Kent.

The quarter-finals of the competition will all take place on the same day - Thursday, October 1 - and all knockout fixtures will have a reserve day.

ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: “The fact we’ve been able to get so much domestic cricket played this summer owes to the collaborative efforts of the county network and their willingness to find a way to get the game on in the safest way possible for all involved. 

“There will be many more challenges ahead, but the unity and spirit shown during this summer has been a tribute to the county network as we work together to grow our sport.”

T20 BLAST 2020 LIVE SKY MATCHES

Emerald Headingley: August 27 - Yorkshire Vikings v Notts Outlaws; August 31 - Leicestershire Foxes v Durham, Derbyshire v Lancashire Lightning

Edgbaston: September 2 - Birmingham Bears v Gloucestershire; September 3 - Worcestershire Rapids v Somerset, Northants Steelbacks v Glamorgan

The Kia Oval: September 5 - Essex Eagles v Kent Spitfires, Surrey v Middlesex

The Ageas Bowl: September 10 - Hampshire v Sussex Sharks

Emirates Old Trafford: September 17 - Lancashire Lightning v Yorkshire Vikings