Vitality Blast 2025 preview: Surrey and Somerset well-fancied to go all the way

The highly anticipated return of the T20 Blast gets underway on Thursday as Lancashire Lightning take on Worcestershire Rapids in the North group and Middlesex host Sussex Sharks in the curtain-raiser for the South group.

The usual suspects such as Surrey and Somerset will be well-fancied to go all the way, though it is Gloucestershire who will be aiming to defend their title and become the first side to do so.

A total of 126 matches will unfold between May 29 and July 18 as teams vye for a spot in their respective top four, with four sides eventually completing the Finals Day lineup at Edgbaston on September 13, in what is one of the highlights of the English sporting calendar.

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What happened in 2024?

Gloucestershire reigned supreme at Edgbaston last September with a stunning team performance to comprehensively beat West Country rivals Somerset and secure a maiden T20 title.

Jack Taylor’s well-drilled side were considered the outsiders on Finals Day, having only squeezed through the group stage on net run-rate after Essex failed to win their final game.

But they were inspired in the knockouts by a potent bowling attack which took 29 wickets across the three matches.

Australian overseas Daniel Hughes led the scoring charts with 596 runs for Sussex, ahead of Sam Hain and the impressive Michael Pepper, who struck a competition-high 32 sixes and two centuries to establish himself as one of the most destructive players in the country.

Experienced left-arm seamer David Payne was out in front with the ball, taking 33 wickets for the champions, whilst the competition’s all-time leading wicket-taker Danny Briggs enjoyed his most prolific campaign since his debut season in 2010 with 29 scalps.

The North-South divide

After a period of North supremacy which saw five consecutive winners between 2014-2018, the South group have turned the tide with five triumphs in the six editions since.

2024 was also the third time in four years that Finals Day has been an all-Southern affair, with Somerset (4), Hampshire (3) and Surrey (3) regularly contesting the showpiece event during that time.

Gloucestershire’s success means there are now four teams yet to win the T20 crown, three of which reside in the North – Derbyshire, Durham and Yorkshire, whilst Glamorgan are the only South team remaining.

The North group has seen slightly more variation in qualification with six different sides finishing in the top four alongside the consistent duo of Birmingham Bears and Lancashire Lightning over the last three years.

Meanwhile, the same four teams made it out of the South group in 2022 and 2023, before Sussex and Gloucestershire stepped up in 2024, with Glamorgan on the current longest run without reaching a quarter-final stretching back eight years.

Which teams are hoping to harness red ball form?

Whilst there will be changes in mindset and personnel, carrying momentum and confidence from the County Championship into a period with a rapid turnover of fixtures can be huge for a team’s success.

Nottinghamshire are the current Division One leaders and will be hoping for a similar change of fortunes for their T20 side after a rare bottom-of-the-table finish in 2024, only the third time in 15 seasons the two-time winners failed to make it out of the group stage.

The Outlaws have been in somewhat of a transition phase of late and will be without Alex Hales.

But they look a much stronger proposition this time around with a number of batters and bowlers in form, on top of the arrival of experienced Australian all-rounders Moises Henriques and Daniel Sams.

Leicestershire have been the surprise package so far, winning five out of seven Championship matches and creating breathing space at the top of Division Two.

Two of their three leading wicket-takers from last year have returned to their parent clubs.

But with the likes of Louis Kimber and Sol Budinger, as well as the signing of Pakistan’s Shan Masood, the Foxes possess a formidable batting line-up which recently racked up 300-7 against Staffordshire in a statement warm-up display.

Derbyshire are one of only three unbeaten sides this year and may finally be demonstrating strides of progress which was expected under Mickey Arthur.

Having lost their final game to miss out on a place in the quarter-finals for the past two years running, the Falcons have now built a squad of quality and experience throughout.

This should make them a very competitive force, potentially even a tournament dark horse to emulate the feat achieved by Gloucestershire.

Glamorgan are coming off the back of three straight Championship victories but fans will be hoping to see similar improvements in their T20 performances.

Winning the One-Day Cup last year proves they are capable, with talented youngsters such as Will Smale and Ben Kellaway in their ranks, though they need to showcase more consistency in order to threaten the established hierarchy.

Two teams grateful for the opportunity to reset and start a fresh competition are rivals Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The Red Rose are the only team without a win in the County Championship after seven games, resulting in a change of head coach this week, though they will remain optimistic given their strong North group record.

As for the White Rose, they have found life difficult on returning to Division One and face a battle to keep their top flight status, making it more important for the perennial T20 underachievers to hit the ground running here.

Surrey looking to end T20 drought

It is perhaps a surprise that a side with an embarrassment of riches like Surrey have not been able to replicate their County Championship success in the white ball format, only ever winning the short format prize once way back in the inaugural 2003 edition.

They are regularly without some of their key players away on England duty, and that will be no different this time around with the likes of Will Jacks, Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton likely to miss large chunks of the campaign.

They certainly have the resources at their disposal to more than cover those gaps in the squad.

The pre-tournament favourites begin away at Somerset, the side they have been beaten by at the semi-final stage in the last two seasons, both of which were hugely underwhelming performances which did not reflect how they got there, pointing towards a struggle to adapt to an often slower Edgbaston surface.

Star all-rounder Sam Curran has been installed as the new captain in the hope he will be the catalyst for success and it will be third time lucky at Finals Day this time around.

Quarter-final hoodoo for the Birmingham Bears

The Bears have been the dominant side in the North group in recent years, finishing top of the table in the last three campaigns.

However, the pressure of a high stakes knockout game has proved too much with four successive quarter-final exits, the previous three of which have been at their home ground, including the failure to chase a fairly modest target of 138 against Gloucestershire last year.

Whilst there is a lot of cricket to play beforehand, Birmingham are expected to be thereabouts once again and will be desperate to prove they can finally get over that hurdle to set up a home Finals Day for the first time since 2017.

Can Kane Williamson rejuvenate Middlesex?

Things can only improve for Middlesex, one of the world’s worst-performing T20 sides, who have not made it to Finals Day since winning the competition in 2008.

There have only been two quarter-final appearances in that time, 2016 and 2019, whilst they have also failed to win at Lord’s since 2022.

They have not won more than four games in any of the last four campaigns and 2024 top run-scorer Martin Andersson has since departed the club for Derbyshire.

Having gone without an overseas player last year, this time the club boasts one of the most eye-catching additions in New Zealand great Kane Williamson, as well as Irish pace bowler Josh Little.

Williamson, who has over 18,000 runs for his country and averages 33.44 in T20 internationals, will provide much-needed experience and temperament to the batting lineup which should emanate confidence to the more explosive hitters around him.

Luke Hollman, 24, was a rare bright spark in an otherwise bleak 2024 campaign, with the leg spinner taking an impressive 23 wickets and could play another big role for the side.

Who are the big names to watch out for?

As ever, England’s international schedule prevents some of the country’s leading white ball players from featuring on a regular basis, though there remains a number of high-profile domestic players on display.

Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone will both be eyeing a return to form which could earn them an England recall, with Dan Mousley and Jafer Chohan among a number of young players hoping to force their way into Harry Brook’s side.

David Willey will be aiming to lead Northamptonshire Steelbacks to the knockout stages again, this time under the guidance of former Big Bash-winning coach Darren Lehmann, whilst James Vince and Sam Billings return from globetrotting franchise duties to skipper Hampshire Hawks and Kent Spitfires.

Moeen Ali is embarking on a swansong summer in England after he announced he will be retiring from county cricket at the end of the group stage.

But 42-year-old James Anderson is showing no signs of slowing down and is set to play his first white ball games for Lancashire since 2014, with an eye also on potentially earning one of the Hundred Wildcard spots.

As mentioned, Kane Williamson headlines the overseas contingent jetting in from around the world, joined by compatriots Mitchell Santner (Surrey), Jimmy Neesham (Durham) and Matt Henry (Somerset).

2024 leading run-scorer Daniel Hughes returns to the South Coast, with fellow Aussie Chris Green back at Old Trafford alongside Ashton Turner.

Ben Dwarshuis (Worcestershire), Tom Rogers (Kent) and Lloyd Pope (Northamptonshire) all featured in the Big Bash Team of the Tournament, with victorious Hobart Hurricanes duo Caleb Jewell and Riley Meredith at Derbyshire and Somerset respectively.

South Africa‘s Dewald Brevis (Hampshire) and Afghanistan’s AM Ghazanfar (Derbyshire) are two of the world’s best young talents worth paying close attention, whilst other teams have opted for more experienced options in the form of D’Arcy Short (Gloucestershire) and Mohammad Amir (Essex).

By Dom Harris

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