| Administrator(s) | England and Wales Cricket Board |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | Twenty20 |
| Tournament format(s) | Group stage and knockout |
| Champions | Hampshire Royals (2nd title) |
| Participants | 18 |
| Matches | 97 |
| Most runs | Phillip Hughes, Worcestershire (402) |
| Most wickets | Mitchell Starc, Yorkshire (21) |
| Official website | friendslife.co.uk/t20 |
The 2012 FriendsLife T20 was the tenth edition of the T20 Blast formerly known as the FriendsLife T20, England's premier domestic Twenty20 competition. The competition ran from 12 June to 25 August 2012. The teams in the tournament remained the same as the previous season.
The schedule of the tournament had been widely criticised the previous season and the ECB had decided to reduce the minimum number of days in which a county would play from 92 to 86 for 2012. This meant a change in format from 2 groups of 9, from which the top 4 would qualify to the quarter-finals, to an arrangement with 3 groups of 6. The format of the knock-out rounds (quarter-finals) remain unchanged.[1] This reduces the number of matches in the competition from 151 to 97 in a return to the format of the 2008 and 2009 editions of the Twenty20 Cup.
Finals Day was at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff for the first time. Hampshire Royals and Yorkshire Carnegie, as the winners and runners-up of the tournament respectively, qualified for the 2012 Champions League Twenty20.[2]
In the quarter-final match between Sussex and Gloucestershire, Scott Styris scored the equal third-fastest century in T20 history, after making 100 not out from 37 balls. In the same match, Gloucestershire's James Fuller conceded 38 runs from one over.[3]