 Ottis Gibson and Gareth Breese celebrate Durham's 2007 Trophy win |
The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced changes to the Friends Provident Trophy for the 2008 season to make more matches competitive. The group stage will have four groups of five teams, each team playing each other home and away, rather than the current structure of two groups of 10.
The top two teams from each group will then qualify for the quarter-finals.
The Twenty20 Cup also changes with each team playing 10 group games rather than eight but remaining in three groups.
ECB Chief Executive David Collier said: "We were keen to reduce the number of so-called 'dead games' in the Friends Provident Trophy.
"We also wanted to add a competitive edge to all of the games in the competition without increasing the volume of cricket.
"The Twenty20 Cup continues to attract new spectators to the sport and the introduction of extra fixtures will give even more people a chance to sample the Twenty20 experience at their local county ground.
"And the prospect of more local derbies will add further spice to the competition at the group stages."
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