Essex defeated Kent by five wickets in this year's final

Reigning champions Essex have been handed a relatively kind-looking draw for the group stages of next year's Friends Provident Trophy.

Group D opponents Glamorgan, Northants, Lancashire and Derbyshire are all Division Two sides in the Pro40 league.

County champions Durham, the 2007 FP Trophy winners, are with Yorkshire, Surrey, Gloucestershire and Sussex.

Scotland are with 2008 runners-up Kent while Ireland have been drawn with the likes of Nottinghamshire and Hampshire.

606: DEBATE This gives Notts games against a local rival, a country, a team we need to take serious revenge on and a team that's lost the heart of its middle order SwannyforEngland

Meanwhile, Group C contains reigning Pro40 champions Sussex as well as Durham, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire who will all play in the one-day league's top division in 2009.

The 2009 format has four de-regionalised groups containing five teams, the top two qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Ireland and Scotland were allocated to Groups A and B before the draw took place.

The final will take place at Lord's on 25 July, 2009.

Group A:
Ireland, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire

Group B:
Scotland, Warwickshire, Kent, Somerset, Middlesex

Group C:
Surrey, Durham, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Sussex

Group D:
Essex, Glamorgan, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire

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