2007 Friends Provident Trophy
| Administrator(s) | England and Wales Cricket Board |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | Limited overs cricket (50 overs) |
| Tournament format(s) | Group stage and knockout |
| Champions | Durham (1st title) |
| Participants | 20 |
| Matches played | 84 |
| Most runs | Phil Mustard (484 for Durham) |
| Most wickets | Ottis Gibson (22 for Durham) |
| Official website | Friends Provident cricket |
The 2007 Friends Provident Trophy was an English county cricket tournament, held between 22 April and 19 August 2007. The tournament was won by Durham.
Following the 2006 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, which had been won by Sussex, various changes were made to the tournament. The first of these to be announced was the inclusion of a semi-final stage in 2007, following complaints of there being "too many meaningless matches". Another change was that of the competition sponsor; Cheltenham & Gloucester, who were reportedly unhappy at the format for 2006, cancelled their future sponsorship before the 2006 season began.Friends Provident were revealed as the new sponsors on 8 February 2007.
The final major change from 2006 was the introduction of player referrals. Introduced on a trial basis, the fielding captain or batsman involved had the right to refer decisions to the third umpire if they disagreed with the decision of the on-field umpires. Each team were permitted two appeals per innings, losing an appeal should the third umpire concur with his on-field colleague. However, this option was only available during televised matches, which led some to suggest it would favour some teams over others.
The eighteen first-class counties were joined by the Scottish and Irish national teams and divided into two groups, north and south. Each team played each other once, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the semi-final stage. During the group stage, teams were awarded two points for a win, one point for a tie, abandonment or a no result, with no points awarded for a defeat. Teams level on points at the end of the group stage were separated by most wins, followed by net run rate, followed by most wickets taken per balls bowled in matches achieving a result.
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