The Benson & Hedges Cup: England's Domestic Group Stage One-Day Competition

The Benson & Hedges Cup was England's domestic one-day competition from 1972 to 2002, running alongside the Gillette Cup/NatWest Trophy knockout and the County Championship as one of three major domestic competitions. Sponsored by the tobacco company Benson & Hedges (B&H), it used a group stage format in which counties were divided into four groups, with the top two from each group advancing to quarter-finals, then semi-finals and a final at Lord's. The B&H Cup ended in 2002 when tobacco sponsorship was banned in sport under EU directives.

Format and Significance

The B&H Cup used 55-over matches in the group stage. Unlike the knockout format of the NatWest Trophy (where a single defeat ended a team's campaign), the group stage gave counties more matches and more opportunity to qualify for the knockout rounds. The B&H Cup was particularly important in the 1970s and 1980s when county cricket's domestic calendar centred on three competitions — the Championship, the NatWest and the B&H — plus the Sunday League (which became the AXA League). The most successful county in the B&H Cup's history was Essex, who won three times.

Tobacco Sponsorship's End in Cricket

The Benson & Hedges Cup's 30-year run ended in 2002 when the European Union's Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Directive prohibited tobacco companies from sponsoring sporting events. The loss of B&H as a sponsor reflected a broader change in cricket sponsorship — tobacco money, which had been foundational to domestic cricket's commercial development in the 1970s-1980s (World Series Cricket in Australia was initially linked to Benson & Hedges), was replaced by financial services, insurance and telecommunications sponsors. The B&H Cup was replaced by the Twenty20 Cup in its inaugural 2003 season.