One Day Cup 2026 Groups: Teams & Qualification Guide
One Day Cup10 min read2,281 words
The One Day Cup 2026 groups and teams are simple to hold in your head once you know the shape: all eighteen first-class counties, split into two groups of nine, each county playing the other eight in its group once — four at home, four away. Group A and Group B were drawn at random rather than seeded or split north-south, which is why Lancashire and Surrey share a group while Yorkshire and Durham are in the other one. The group stage ran from 21 July to 11 August 2026, the play-offs follow on 14 August, the semi-finals on 16 August, and the final is held back to Sunday 20 September at Trent Bridge. This page sets out who is in which group, how the qualification maths works, and where the competition sits in a crowded English August.
One Day Cup 2026 groups: the two nines
Both groups contain nine counties. Several use their limited-overs playing names — the Foxes, the Outlaws, the Steelbacks, the Falcons, the Sharks, the Spitfires, the Rapids — which is why a fixture list can look like it contains more than eighteen clubs.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| Gloucestershire | Derbyshire Falcons |
| Kent Spitfires | Durham |
| Lancashire | Essex |
| Leicestershire Foxes | Glamorgan |
| Northamptonshire Steelbacks | Hampshire |
| Notts Outlaws | Middlesex |
| Somerset | Sussex Sharks |
| Surrey | Worcestershire Rapids |
| Warwickshire | Yorkshire |
A nine-team group means eight matches each and one blank round per county in every set of fixtures — somebody always sits out. Across the two groups that produces 72 group matches, and with five knockout games the competition runs to 77 fixtures in all. Every match is 50 overs a side, played mostly in the daytime slot of 11.00am to 6.30pm, with a handful of floodlit fixtures starting at 2.00pm at the grounds that have lights.
The draw being random matters more than it sounds. It removes the geographical logic that used to shape the old zonal competitions, so travel is uneven — Glamorgan's group takes in Chelmsford, Chester-le-Street and Hove, while Leicestershire's is largely a Midlands and northern loop. It also means the two groups are rarely of equal strength, which is a fair criticism of the format and one the counties accept in exchange for a clean, short competition. The wider context for all of this — where the 50-over cup sits alongside the Championship and the T20 Blast — is laid out in the guide to English domestic cricket structure.
How the points work
Four points for a win, two for a tie, two for a no result, none for a defeat. That is it. There are no bonus points in the One Day Cup, unlike the County Championship, where batting and bowling points can decide a season. A rained-off group match splits the points two apiece and both sides move on; there is no reserve day at any point in the group stage, so a wet week can quietly reshape a table.
When counties finish level on points, the tie-breakers run in a fixed order:
- Higher net run rate across the group matches.
- Points won in the matches played between the tied counties.
- Wicket-taking strike rate — balls bowled per wicket taken.
- Drawing lots.
Net run rate is calculated the familiar way: average runs per over scored, minus average runs per over conceded. The detail worth knowing is that a side bowled out inside its overs is still charged the full quota — get skittled for 140 in 32 overs and the run rate is worked out over 50, not 32. That single rule punishes collapses far harder than slow scoring, and it is the reason counties chasing a small total in a dead rubber will sometimes bat with more urgency than the situation appears to demand.
Only matches with a result count towards net run rate, so a washed-out fixture leaves it untouched. A minimum of ten overs must be bowled to the side batting second for a group match to constitute a result, with Duckworth-Lewis-Stern setting the revised target.
Qualification: top three from each group
Six of the eighteen counties reach the knockout stage — the top three in each group — but they do not all arrive at the same point.
- Group winners go straight into a home semi-final. They skip a round entirely.
- Runners-up host a play-off against the third-placed county from the opposite group.
- Third place travels to that play-off, and the winner then goes on to play the semi-final away from home.
So the semi-final ties read: winner of Group A against the survivor of Group B second versus Group A third; winner of Group B against the survivor of Group A second versus Group B third. The reward for topping your group is therefore substantial — one fewer match, home advantage in the semi-final, and a guaranteed opponent who has already had to win a knockout game.
Note the official terminology. The ECB's playing conditions call the round of four the play-offs, not the quarter-finals, even though almost everyone who watches the competition calls them quarter-finals. If you are reading a county's ticketing page and it advertises a "play-off", that is the game. The knockout mechanics — reserve days, the twenty-over minimum, Super Overs and the rest — are covered separately in the One Day Cup knockout rules explained.
The 2026 group stage as it played out
With the final round of group matches on Tuesday 11 August, the picture at the top was unusually tight in one group and reasonably settled in the other. Middlesex led Group B by a clear margin, having won six of their first seven with much the best net run rate in the competition, with Yorkshire and Durham next and Hampshire and Worcestershire — the holders, having won the 2025 final at Trent Bridge — still in range of third. Group A was the opposite: Leicestershire Foxes headed it, but four counties sat level on sixteen points behind them, separated only by net run rate, which meant the last day of the group stage doubled as a qualification shoot-out.
Sussex Sharks carried a two-point deduction through the tournament, applied after the county agreed a financial support package — a reminder that the domestic table can be shaped by matters off the field as well as on it.
Because places can turn on a single Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score, the honest advice is to check the final table on the ECB or ESPNcricinfo before assuming a county has qualified. Positions confirmed on the morning of a final round have a habit of changing by teatime. Our own One Day Cup 2026 fixtures page carries the schedule alongside the knockout dates.
What the teams actually look like
This is the part that catches out newcomers. The One Day Cup is played across the same weeks as The Hundred, and every county loses its Hundred-contracted players for the duration. England's centrally contracted cricketers are almost never available either. The result is that the county you watch in the One Day Cup is not the county you watch in the Blast.
What turns up instead is a mixture: a senior professional or two holding the innings together, a batch of second-team players getting their first proper List A cricket, one or two academy teenagers, and often a returning club or minor counties cricketer covering an injury. Some counties treat it as a development competition on principle; others send out close to their strongest available side and go looking for a Trent Bridge day out. Both approaches have won it recently.
That is why the competition remains the single best place in England to watch a career begin. A long list of current internationals played their first meaningful professional innings in this tournament in front of a few hundred people at a school ground. If you want to see who is coming through at your county, this is the fortnight — more so than the Blast, where the overseas signings and England players crowd out the young ones. The background to why the calendar works this way is set out in the site's guide to the One Day Cup's odd modern role, and the parallel competition that causes the clash is explained in The Hundred explained.
Group rivalries worth looking out for
A random draw scatters the traditional fixtures, and in 2026 it kept Lancashire and Yorkshire apart — the Roses rivalry sat across the group divide, so the only way it could have happened was in a play-off or the final. Group A produced a heavier concentration of the bigger clubs: Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Somerset and Notts all in one nine, which is part of why the table stayed so congested.
Group B had the sharper contrast between the settled and the struggling. Middlesex, playing much of their cricket at Radlett in Hertfordshire rather than at Lord's, made the early running; Sussex, carrying their deduction, spent the competition trying to climb off the bottom. Durham's late-July form put them into contention for a top-two finish and a home play-off, which for a county at the Riverside is worth real money on the gate.
Where the group matches are played
The One Day Cup is the outground competition. Because The Hundred occupies most of the Test grounds in August and county members expect a day out somewhere different, this is the tournament where counties take fixtures to school pitches, seaside grounds and municipal parks. The 2026 venue list ran to Sedbergh School in Cumbria, Rugby School in Warwickshire, Repton School in Derbyshire, Kibworth in Leicestershire, Cheltenham College, Radlett, Beckenham, Guildford, Arundel, Chesterfield, Scarborough, York, Neath and the John Fretwell Centre at Sookholme, alongside the headquarters grounds at Trent Bridge, the Kia Oval, Emirates Old Trafford, Sophia Gardens, Grace Road, Chelmsford, Bristol, Hove, Taunton, Canterbury, New Road, the Utilita Bowl, the Riverside, Northampton and Derby.
If you are choosing where to go rather than which county to follow, the outgrounds are the whole point — see our guide to the best grounds to watch One Day Cup cricket and the site's broader English cricket grounds guide.
Following the competition
Coverage is patchy by design. Every county streams its home matches free on its own YouTube channel or club website, usually with a single commentator and a handful of cameras, and BBC local radio covers most fixtures ball by ball. Television interest concentrates on the knockout stage and the final. Scores update live on the ECB site and ESPNcricinfo throughout. The general routes into watching domestic cricket in Britain are set out in how to watch county cricket and, for the four-day game, how to watch the County Championship in 2026.
Tickets are the cheapest in professional English cricket. Most counties charge in the region of £15 to £20 for an adult on the gate for a group match, juniors are a few pounds or free depending on the club, and county members get in on their membership. The final at Trent Bridge is priced separately and sells to Nottinghamshire members first.
Frequently asked questions
How many teams are in the One Day Cup 2026?
Eighteen — every first-class county in England and Wales, split into two groups of nine. There is no promotion or relegation between groups; the draw is remade each season.
Which counties are in Group A and Group B?
Group A is Gloucestershire, Kent Spitfires, Lancashire, Leicestershire Foxes, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Notts Outlaws, Somerset, Surrey and Warwickshire. Group B is Derbyshire Falcons, Durham, Essex, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Middlesex, Sussex Sharks, Worcestershire Rapids and Yorkshire.
How many teams qualify from each One Day Cup group?
Three from each group, six in total. The group winners go straight to a home semi-final; the runners-up host the third-placed county from the other group in a play-off, and the play-off winners travel to the semi-finals.
How many games does each county play in the group stage?
Eight — one against each of the other counties in its group, four at home and four away. Nine-team groups mean every county has one blank round in each set of fixtures.
Do counties play their strongest teams in the One Day Cup?
Rarely. The competition runs alongside The Hundred, so counties are without their Hundred-contracted players and any England internationals. Squads are built from senior pros, second-team players and academy cricketers, which is why the tournament has a reputation for producing debutants.
When is the One Day Cup 2026 final?
Sunday 20 September 2026 at Trent Bridge, several weeks after the semi-finals on 16 August. The gap is deliberate: it gives the final its own date in the calendar rather than burying it in the middle of The Hundred.
Are there bonus points in the One Day Cup?
No. Four points for a win, two for a tie or a no result, nothing for a defeat, and net run rate as the first tie-breaker. Bonus points belong to the Championship, not the 50-over cup.
The short version of the One Day Cup 2026 groups and teams, then: eighteen counties, two groups of nine, eight matches each, top three through, group winners rewarded with a home semi-final, and a September final at Trent Bridge. It is the most straightforward format in the English season, played by the least predictable teams — which is a fair part of its appeal. Start at the England cricket hub for the rest of the summer's competitions.