The Friends Provident Trophy is a one day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It is one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties compete each season. They are joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. The competition has previously been known as the C&G Trophy (2000-2006), the NatWest Trophy (1981-2000) and the Gillette Cup (1963-1980). For a short period following the 2006 season, the competition was known as the ECB Trophy because no sponsors were forthcoming when Cheltenham and Gloucester decided to end their association with the competition after the 2006 season.


Format:

In the current format, the eighteen English and Welsh first-class sides, plus Scotland and Ireland, are split into two groups of ten by geographical location. These are known as the North and South Conferences and are played in a league format. Teams play each other only once, in 50 over games, gaining two points for a win, one point for a no result and no points for a loss. Once the league positions are decided, the top teams from each Conference compete for the trophy in a final at Lord's. In the 2007 season this involved a semi-final knock-out stage, the winner in each conference playing the runners-up in the other.

The competition is played in the first half of the cricket season with the final taking place in August. The other main domestic one-day competition, the Natwest Pro 40 League, is played in the second half of the season.