Gimmick or terrific? Edgbaston double-header sparks off T20 Blast

W hile County Championship fixtures are played out across the country this weekend Birmingham is braced for a change of pace when the curtain rises on the T20 Blast on Saturday, and in dramatic style. For the first time the competition launches with a big-venue double-header, the significant novelty of this domestic season having inevitably been named “Blast Off”.

Warwickshire play Yorkshire and Derbyshire play Lancashire as four of the eight teams who reached last year’s quarter-finals gather at Edgbaston, which will also host finals day in July. But, having completed the competition’s collection of Birmingham-based bookends, Blast Off must now demonstrate whether it is gimmick or terrific.

“I think it’s important to start the competition off with a bang,” says Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen. “It’s about awareness. Last year if felt like it took a while for people to catch on that the Blast had started and that’s the key for the ECB and the counties, to make it known that the T20 has started and try to attract people down to the ground.”

Derbyshire’s involvement in Blast Off has involved a unique sacrifice: their meeting with Lancashire is nominally a home fixture, meaning they will play only five at the County Ground this year (plus one in Chesterfield). Glen Chapple, the Lancashire coach, has said giving up a home game would have significantly diminished his side’s chances of winning the competition, Madsen has a more optimistic outlook.

“We’ve actually played well at Edgbaston over the years,” he says (they have won their last two T20s there). “From a commercial point of view I think it’s beneficial for the club and, as a result, for the team as well. It’s great exposure for us as a group, it lets us show where we are