Vitality Blast Fixtures for 2026 Announced

2026 T20 Vitality Blast Fixtures Announced 

The ECB have today announced the fixtures for both the Men's and Women's T20 Vitality Blast competitions for 2026, giving Sharks fans the chance to now start looking ahead and planning for next summer. 

Men's Fixtures

Things are a little different this time around. The 2026 Men’s Vitality Blast group stage will now consist of three groups, the names of which will be confirmed in due course. Teams will also play 12 matches, instead of the previous 14.

The Sharks' group is laid out as such:

• Group 3: Surrey, Sussex Sharks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex, Essex, Hampshire Hawks

The Men and Women both begin their T20 campaigns on the same day, with the men travelling to Essex and the women making the trip to Derbyshire on Friday 22nd May. 

The first home game of the competition for the men's team will take place on Saturday 30th May in front of the Sky cameras, with Middlesex the visitors to The 1st Central County Ground. 

Each county will play each team in their group home and away (10 matches), plus another two teams from other Groups in what will be known as crossover matches. This will bring the total matches to 12.

The Sharks will play Leicestershire at home for the first time ever in the Blast, with the second of the crossover matches coming against the Bears at Edgbaston. 

The two teams at the top of each group, plus the best two third-placed teams, will progress to the quarter-finals. Finals Day at Edgbaston will be on Saturday, 18 July 2026.

Women's Fixtures

The Vitality Blast Women’s League 2 (Tier 2) will maintain eight group-stage matches, but move to a single group – changing from North and South Groups in 2025 – with a three-team Finals Day.

The Women's team will play four fixtures at home venues in the Blast, with the first taking place on Sunday 31st May when they welcome Glamorgan to Hove. 

The men’s and women’s teams will play on the same day at Hove on two occasions: first on Friday, 5 June, when both sides face Leicestershire, and again on Friday, 3 July, with the men playing Essex and the women playing Northamptonshire.

The Women's Finals Day is set to take place on Sunday 12th July at Sophia Gardens. 

To view all the fixtures on our website, please click here. 

All remaining fixtures for the County Championship and Metro Bank One Day Cup will be announced on Thursday at 10am. 

Blast Passes on General Sale