Friends Provident Trophy

From Wiki Cricket

The Friends Provident Trophy is a List A domestic cricket competition held in England.The tournament is contested by 20 teams of which 18 teams represents the various county in England .The other two particpants are Ireland and Scotland.The tournament was first played in the year 1963 ,it was a 65 over match then and was the first Knock Out competition to be held.The tournament is governed by the ECB and was known by several names in the past.

Gillette Cup from 1963 to 1980

Natwest Trophy from 1981 to 2000

C&G Trophy from 2000 to 2006

ECB Trophy from 2006 to 2007

Friends provident Trophy from 2007

The tournament started following the league format from the 2006 season abandoning the Knock Out format .For the 2006 and 2007 season ,the teams were divided into two groups of 10 teams depending on their geographical location.The teams played other teams within the group once,after which the top placed teams in both the groups play the finals in Lord's .These two groups were known as North Conference and South Conference.

As of from the 2008 season ,the teams are divided into 4 groups of 5 teams.Each team plays other teams within the group twice,then the top 2 teams from each group enter the quater finals.