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Lancashire T20 Blast captain Keaton Jennings has described the T20 Blast schedule as “absolutely ludicrous” as his side prepares for Finals Day.
His side lines up against Somerset in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals without three of the players involved in the quarter-final win over Kent last Saturday.
Phil Salt and Luke Wood are both part of England’s T20 squad, while Ashton Turner has been recalled for Australia’s domestic season with immediate effect.
Lancashire have reached Finals Day for a 10th time but are trying to win the trophy for only the second time and first since 2015.
“It’s not ideal,” Jennings told BBC Radio Lancashire of the absentees.
“I don’t want to point fingers anywhere but I do think the schedule is absolutely ludicrous.”
Lancashire played their first T20 Blast match of the season on 29 May and ended the 14-game group campaign on 18 July.
There was then a gap of 50 days to their Emirates Old Trafford clash with Kent, with seven days between that tie and Finals Day.
“You can’t have eight weeks between the last group game and the final,” said Jennings.
“There is no other competition in the world that does that. Hopefully it changes next year.”
Finals Day will be staged 57 days after the end of the group games while, in comparison, the whole of the Indian Premier League was played over a continuous 73 days, while Australia’s Big Bash was completed in 43 days and the SA20 in South Africa over just 30 days.
Dates have not been confirmed for 2026, but the ECB announced last month the T20 Blast would be completed in one block next summer before The Hundred begins.
Getty ImagesWhile disappointed that big players like Salt and Wood are unavailable, as well as Jos Buttler and Saqib Mahmood, who were part of England’s ODI games last weekend, Jennings recognises that it presents an opportunity for someone else to put their hand up.
“I had a chat to Salty and he said how disappointed he was not to represent Lancs at Finals Day,” he said.
“This is a guy who’s won the IPL, played all around the world and he’s dying to play and pull on the Red Rose.
“It’s frustrating, it feels like a massive kick in the teeth. But do you whinge about it or try to win two games of cricket?”
