# One-Day Cup (England)
[The One](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-one)-Day Cup, currently sponsored as the Metro Bank One Day Cup, is the domestic 50-over [List A cricket](https://www.edgepedia.org/list-a-cricket) competition for the 18 first-class counties of [England and Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/england-and-wales), run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in a group-stage and knockout format[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup). The ECB lists the current competition as first launched in 2014[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup), and it continues a lineage of English one-day county trophies dating back to the Gillette Cup of 1963[2](https://www.lords.org/lords/news-stories/from-the-archives-the-final-final-1). A women's version of the competition was added in 2025 as part of the restructured women's county game[3](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/11/13/82c0fae4-0a76-43fa-9f77-049fd2bbe0d1/State-of-Equity-in-Cricket-Report-2025.pdf).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | List A, 50 overs per side; group stage and knockout[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup) |
| Teams | The 18 Professional County Clubs, in two groups of nine[4](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/03/20/aa856d58-2ee0-4e2d-ad21-2c731752a401/Done-Professional-County-Cricket-Competition-Regulations.pdf) |
| Group stage | Eight matches per county, four at home and four away[5](https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2025/09/championship-and-one-day-cup-schedules-remain-unchanged) |
| Match status | Matches count as List A Limited Overs matches under ECB classification[4](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/03/20/aa856d58-2ee0-4e2d-ad21-2c731752a401/Done-Professional-County-Cricket-Competition-Regulations.pdf) • [6](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/02/28/1abfe2fc-adc2-48eb-a5a6-f0c3417854af/Classification-of-Official-Cricket.pdf) |
| First launched (current format) | 2014[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup) |
| Recent champions | Middlesex (2026), Worcestershire Rapids (2025), Glamorgan (2024), Leicestershire Foxes (2023)[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup) |
| Women's competition | Launched 2025; inaugural winner Lancashire Thunder[3](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/11/13/82c0fae4-0a76-43fa-9f77-049fd2bbe0d1/State-of-Equity-in-Cricket-Report-2025.pdf) |
## Format and competition status
The men's competition is one of the three county competitions the ECB runs in the professional men's game, alongside the Rothesay County Championship and the Vitality Blast[7](https://www.ecb.co.uk/about/what-we-do/domestic-cricket). All 18 Professional County Clubs must participate, and counties must field full-strength teams in every match under the ECB's Professional County Cricket Competition Regulations[4](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/03/20/aa856d58-2ee0-4e2d-ad21-2c731752a401/Done-Professional-County-Cricket-Competition-Regulations.pdf).
**Knockout structure.** The two group winners qualify directly for home semi-finals. The team finishing second in each group hosts a play-off against the team finishing third in the opposite group, with the play-off winners traveling for the semi-finals; the final is played at [Trent Bridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/trent-bridge)[4](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/03/20/aa856d58-2ee0-4e2d-ad21-2c731752a401/Done-Professional-County-Cricket-Competition-Regulations.pdf). In 2026 the schedule ran from late July to a final on Sunday, September 20 at Trent Bridge, with 77 matches in total across two groups of nine[8](https://www.wisden.com/cricket-news/one-day-cup-men-2026-all-you-need-to-know-schedule-groups).
## Place in the season
The competition sits in the second half of the English summer, sandwiched between the [T20 Blast](https://www.edgepedia.org/t20-blast) and the final stretch of the [County Championship](https://www.edgepedia.org/county-championship)[8](https://www.wisden.com/cricket-news/one-day-cup-men-2026-all-you-need-to-know-schedule-groups). Its window overlaps with The Hundred, the ECB's 100-ball franchise competition, which affects player availability: counties lose players to Hundred franchises during the tournament[9](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/aug/11/t20-blast-lose-two-matches-per-team-in-2026-domestic-cricket-reshuffle).
The schedule has been stable recently. After a consultation between the ECB and the Professional County Clubs concluded in September 2025, the chairs of the 18 clubs voted on proposed changes; the required two-thirds majority was not reached, and the men's County Championship and One-Day Cup playing schedules were left unchanged from 2026 onwards, with the One-Day Cup keeping its two groups of nine and eight group matches per county[5](https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2025/09/championship-and-one-day-cup-schedules-remain-unchanged). The changes that were agreed affected the Vitality Blast, whose men's group stage was cut from 14 matches to 12 from 2026[5](https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2025/09/championship-and-one-day-cup-schedules-remain-unchanged) • [10](https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4339206), and the women's white-ball competitions, where the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women's competitions in Tiers 1 and 2 were restructured from 2026[10](https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4339206).
## History
English domestic one-day cricket began with the Gillette Cup, which started in 1963 as a 65-over-a-side knockout and was, according to the MCC's archive, the world's first domestic knockout tournament for first-class sides; its first final between Sussex and [Worcestershire](https://www.edgepedia.org/worcestershire) sold out[2](https://www.lords.org/lords/news-stories/from-the-archives-the-final-final-1). The trophy passed through a series of sponsors, and Lord's hosted the final for decades; [Lancashire](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancashire) are the most successful county in one-day finals at Lord's, with 11 victories across the Gillette Cup, NatWest Trophy, and Benson and Hedges Cup eras[2](https://www.lords.org/lords/news-stories/from-the-archives-the-final-final-1). By the mid-2010s the competition ran as the Royal London One-Day Cup, one of the three county competitions whose combined attendances exceeded 1.5 million spectators in 2015[11](https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2015/11/cricket-attracts-record-crowds-in-2015).
The current 50-over competition under its present structure dates from 2014[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup). Durham were its first winners that year, followed by [Gloucestershire](https://www.edgepedia.org/gloucestershire) (2015), [Warwickshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/warwickshire) (2016), [Nottinghamshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/nottinghamshire) (2017), Hampshire (2018), Somerset (2019), Glamorgan (2021), Kent (2022), Leicestershire Foxes (2023), Glamorgan again (2024), Worcestershire Rapids (2025), and Middlesex (2026)[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup). Worcestershire's 2025 final win was dedicated to their former team-mate Josh Baker[12](https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4409260), and Middlesex took the 2026 title by beating Leicestershire at Trent Bridge[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup).
## The women's competition
A fundamental restructure of women's domestic cricket in 2025 created a three-tier county structure, and the ECB launched two new professional women's competitions that season: the Vitality Blast and the Metro Bank One Day Cup, the latter won by Lancashire Thunder[3](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/11/13/82c0fae4-0a76-43fa-9f77-049fd2bbe0d1/State-of-Equity-in-Cricket-Report-2025.pdf). The women's One-Day Cup runs in tiers, with League 3 designated a Tier 3 competition alongside the T20 Blast Women's League 3[13](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2026/03/24/825994b6-bdb8-46ed-b424-ae0dd3a4ca35/Tier-1-Registration-Regulations-2026.pdf). From 2026 the Tier 2 competition moved from North and South groups to a single group of eight group-stage matches with a three-team Finals Day[10](https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4339206). In 2026 [The Blaze](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-blaze) beat [Hampshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/hampshire) to win the women's competition, while Middlesex Women won League 2[1](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup).
## Attendance and standing
One-Day Cup crowds are typically smaller than T20 Blast crowds and larger than weekday County Championship crowds[14](https://cricketscorenow.com/articles/cricket-attendance-uk-2025/). The competition's position in the calendar, running alongside The Hundred, shapes both its audience and its playing strength, since counties field weakened sides when players are away with Hundred franchises[9](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/aug/11/t20-blast-lose-two-matches-per-team-in-2026-domestic-cricket-reshuffle). It nonetheless retains a defined role in the ECB's official structure: its matches carry List A status, the same classification used for international one-dayers, and the ECB decides its regulations and playing conditions annually[4](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/03/20/aa856d58-2ee0-4e2d-ad21-2c731752a401/Done-Professional-County-Cricket-Competition-Regulations.pdf).
## References
1. [Metro Bank One Day Cup, ECB official website](https://www.ecb.co.uk/One-Day-Cup)
2. [From the archives: the final final, Lord's](https://www.lords.org/lords/news-stories/from-the-archives-the-final-final-1)
3. [State of Equity in Cricket Report 2025, ECB](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/11/13/82c0fae4-0a76-43fa-9f77-049fd2bbe0d1/State-of-Equity-in-Cricket-Report-2025.pdf)
4. [Professional County Cricket Competition Regulations, ECB (2025)](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/03/20/aa856d58-2ee0-4e2d-ad21-2c731752a401/Done-Professional-County-Cricket-Competition-Regulations.pdf)
5. [Championship and One-Day Cup schedules remain unchanged, Middlesex County Cricket Club (September 2025)](https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2025/09/championship-and-one-day-cup-schedules-remain-unchanged)
6. [ECB Classification of Domestic Official Cricket (2025)](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2025/02/28/1abfe2fc-adc2-48eb-a5a6-f0c3417854af/Classification-of-Official-Cricket.pdf)
7. [Domestic cricket, ECB official website](https://www.ecb.co.uk/about/what-we-do/domestic-cricket)
8. [One-Day Cup Men 2026, all you need to know, Wisden](https://www.wisden.com/cricket-news/one-day-cup-men-2026-all-you-need-to-know-schedule-groups)
9. [T20 Blast to lose two matches per team in 2026, The Guardian (11 August 2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/aug/11/t20-blast-lose-two-matches-per-team-in-2026-domestic-cricket-reshuffle)
10. [Counties agree changes to women's and men's white-ball competitions, ECB (12 August 2025)](https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4339206)
11. [Cricket attracts record crowds in 2015, Middlesex County Cricket Club](https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2015/11/cricket-attracts-record-crowds-in-2015)
12. [County season schedule and fixtures announced, ECB](https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4409260)
13. [Tier 1 Registration Regulations 2026, ECB](https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2026/03/24/825994b6-bdb8-46ed-b424-ae0dd3a4ca35/Tier-1-Registration-Regulations-2026.pdf)
14. [UK Cricket Attendance in 2025: What the Numbers Show](https://cricketscorenow.com/articles/cricket-attendance-uk-2025/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Cricket › Cricket competitions and records › Competitions and recurring events › Domestic first-class and one-day competitions*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license