The 2008 Friends Provident Trophy was an English county cricket tournament, held between 20 April and 16 August 2008. The tournament was won by Essex.
Format Unlike in 2007, the 18 English counties, Ireland and Scotland were divided into four groups of five, based on geographical location. Each team played the other four teams home and away, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter-final stage. A spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board, which instigated the changes, explained that the changes "provides more local derbies and less travel for players". The recommendations of the Schofield Report; an investigation into England's 5–0 Ashes defeat, were also cited as a cause for the changes.
Group stage
Midlands Division TeamPldWTLNRPtsNRRLeicestershire Foxes8502111+0.692Nottinghamshire Outlaws8402210+0.017Northamptonshire Steelbacks8402210 +0.569Warwickshire Bears820426 -0.145Ireland810613 -0.862
North Division TeamPldWTLNRPtsNRRDurham Dynamos8503010+0.432Yorkshire Carnegie8402210+0.544Derbyshire Phantoms830239 -0.141Lancashire Lightning830328 +0.243Scottish Saltires810613 -1.090
South East Division TeamPldWTLNRPtsNRRKent Spitfires8502111+0.647Essex Eagles840319+0.310Middlesex Crusaders830328 +0.064Surrey Brown Caps830417 -0.627Sussex Sharks810435 -0.534
South/West Division TeamPldWTLNRPtsNRRGloucestershire Gladiators8401311+0.705Somerset Sabres830239+0.307Worcestershire Royals830328 -0.121Hampshire Hawks830417 -0.431Glamorgan Dragons810435 -0.219
Knockout stage
Quarter finals
Semi finals
Final
References
External links
Competition overview from CricketArchive Competition overview from Cricinfo