| Dates | 9 June – 18 September 2021 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | England and Wales Cricket Board |
| Cricket format | Twenty20 |
| Tournament format(s) | Group stage and knockout |
| Champions | Kent Spitfires (2nd title) |
| Participants | 18 |
| Matches | 133 |
| Most runs | Josh Inglis (531) (Leicestershire Foxes) |
| Most wickets | Naveen-ul-Haq (26) (Leicestershire Foxes) |
| Official website | Vitality Blast |
The 2021 Vitality Blast was the ninteenth edition of the T20 Blast currently known as the Vitality Blast,[1] a professional Twenty20 cricket league played in England and Wales.[2] run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), that was branded as the Vitality Blast due to the tournament's sponsorship deal.[3] The Notts Outlaws were the defending champions.[4]
In June 2021, Samit Patel, playing for the Notts Outlaws, became the first English player to do the double in T20 cricket of taking 250 wickets and scoring 5,000 runs.[5][6]
In July 2021, Derbyshire's match against Essex in the 2021 County Championship was abandoned before the start of day two due to a positive COVID-19 case in the squad.[7] As a result, Derbyshire's final two T20 Blast group-stage games, against the Northants Steelbacks and the Yorkshire Vikings, were also cancelled.[8][9] Therefore, the North Group qualifications were decided based on an average points per completed match basis.[10]
Following matches completed on 9 July 2021, the Notts Outlaws were the first team to qualify from the North Group for the quarter-finals.[11] On the same day, they were joined by the Kent Spitfires from the South Group.[12] After the matches completed on 16 July 2021, the Yorkshire Vikings from the North Group had qualified,[13] along with Somerset from the South Group.[14] On 17 July 2021, Lancashire Lightning won the Roses Match against the Yorkshire Vikings to qualify from the North Group.[15] On the final day of group stage matches, the Birmingham Bears from the North Group,[16][17] and the Sussex Sharks and the Hampshire Hawks from the South Group had all qualified for the quarter-finals.[18][19]
In the first quarter-final match, the Sussex Sharks beat the Yorkshire Vikings to become the first team to reach Finals Day.[20] The Hampshire Hawks reached the Finals Day, after they knocked out defending champions the Notts Outlaws in the second quarter-final match.[21] Somerset became the third team to reach Finals Day, after they defeated the Lancashire Lightning in their quarter-final match.[22] In the last quarter-final match, the Kent Spitfires beat the Birmingham Bears to progress to the Finals Day.[23] It was the first time in the tournament's history that all the teams taking part in Finals Day had come from the South Group.[24]
On Finals Day, Somerset beat Hampshire Hawks by two wickets in the first semi-final to advance into the final.[25] In the second semi-final, Kent Spitfires beat the Sussex Sharks by 21 runs to advance.[26] It was the first time that Kent had reached the domestic T20 final since the 2008 tournament.[27] In the final, the Kent Spitfires beat Somerset by 25 runs to win the tournament and their second domestic T20 title.[28]