County Cricket - CB40 draw - as it happened

5.15pm: @LankyGiraffe tells me that that is definitely the date of the 2011 CB40 final. Thanks for joining me this afternoon. I'm sure the below-the-line chatter will go on for a while yet. Remember, there will be more Winter Whimsy tomorrow. And Lord Selvey, Vic Marks and Mike Brearley will be recording the Ashes Podcast tomorrow (release details of this to be confirmed soon). Amsterdam here I come (sometime in the spring/summer/autumn of 2011). 4.21pm: If any of you fancy making the step up from county supporter to player, the ECB has sent out this very useful info about how you too could become a Unicorn: The Unicorns, made up of England qualified players without first class county contracts, will once again be holding trials throughout the winter to determine their squad. Details of the trials and the application process can be found at www.ecb.co.uk/clydesdalebank40 The trial dates can be found here . 4.08pm: Hold on, actually I'm not leaving yet, fascinating tweets from the official mascot of Lancashire CCC, @LankyGiraffe : "A really hard group...However, I will remain positive and convinced that we will be in the final at Lord's on September 17th 2011! #cb40" How does he know when the final is going to be played? And how late in the year is that? Or is LankyGiraffe just guessing that it will be on the same weekend of last season? And when will we get our full 2011 fixture list? 3.55pm: Some good news for Winter Whimsy lovers , we have more tomorrow, with Stephen Bates updating the story of Maurice Tate's grave . 3.49pm: Sky Sports' @danieldonovan tweets confidently : "Warwickshire have v good chance after that draw!" 3.44pm: Group C looks tough, with 2010's unluckiest team, Somerset, Notts, Lancs and Essex. 3.42pm: As a London-based Yorkshire supporter I'm looking forward to some Sunday afternoons at Lords, Canterbury and Hove. Until I see the fixture list for the season, at which point I will discover that the Sussex game is on a Wednesday evening before the holiday season and that the missus has booked our holidays when we play at Lords. Such are the trials of being a county supporter. 3.40pm: What I didn't have time to tell you during that mini-rush of action was that Bob Willis had taken over Nick Knight's role making the draw. And now Big Bob is offering some thoughts on the future shape of the domestic season... 3.37pm: To recap Group A: Netherlands Derbyshire Middlesex Worcestershire Sussex Yorkshire Kent Group B: Scotland Hampshire Durham Northants Warwickshire Surrey Leicestershire Group C: Unicorns Nottinghamshire Glamorgan Gloucestershire Essex Somerset Lancashire 3.36pm: Group A - Kent Group B - Leicestershire Group C - Lancashire 3.36pm: Group C - Somerset 3.36pm: Group B - Surrey 3.36pm: Group A - Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire 3.35pm: Group C - Essex 3.35pm: Group B - Warks 3.35pm: Group A - Sussex 3.35pm: Group C - Gloucestershire 3.34pm: Group B - Northants 3.34pm: Group A - Worcestershire 3.34pm: Group C - Glamorgan 3.34pm: Group B - Durham 3.34pm: Group A - Middlesex 3.33pm: Group C - Notts 3.33pm: Group B - Hampshire 3.33pm: Group A - Derbyshire 3.32pm: Alan Fordham is outlining the set-up for the tournament, as below. 3.28pm: The draw is about to start... 3.03pm: Thanks for all the fantastic team name suggestions below the line. Re: the 2011 season format, as Halftracker said on Twitter: "Afraid that typical ECB took too long to meet and discuss next year's schedule, so they've stuck with same structure for 2011...Though it does mean that we'll have a 16 game group stage 20/20 again, I think most would have preferred a reduction to 10 games." Draw coming up in about 20 minutes.... 12.30pm: So, this is it, the Big One that county cricket fans have been waiting for, the draw for the group stages of the Clydesdale Bank 40. Sky Sports News will be broadcasting the action live and the Guardian's County Cricket Live Blog will be, er, liveblogging it. Sky's coverage will be hosted by the English cricket's very own Ant & Dec , Nick Knight and Alan Fordham . Hang on a second, some of you may be saying, how can they be doing the draw for 2011 when the schedule for next year's county cricket season has yet to be decided by the ECB's working party? Well, apparently they left it so late that 2011 is going to be the same as 2010 - some may say that that will make it a baffling, non-sensical fixture list lacking in shape and form, while others may be pleased that at least it will mean consecutive season's being unchanged. Feel free to debate below the line. The format for the Clydesdale Bank 40 draw will be as follows: Three groups of seven. Three teams are pre-determined: Group A - Netherlands Group B - Scotland Group C - Unicorns There will be 18 numbered balls (allocated alphabetically): 1 Derbyshire Falcons 2 Durham Dynamos 3 Essex Eagles 4 Glamorgan Dragons 5 Gloucestershire Gladiators 6 Hampshire Royals 7 Kent Spitfires 8 Lancashire Lightning 9 Leicestershire Foxes 10 Middlesex Panthers 11 Northamptonshire Steelbacks 12 Notts Outlaws 13 Somerset 14 Surrey Lions 15 Sussex Sharks 16 Warwickshire Bears 17 Worcestershire Royals 18 Yorkshire Carnegie The first ball drawn randomly out of the hat will go into Group A, the second Group B, the third Group C, the fourth into Group A etc etc The draw is scheduled to start at 3.30pm. Share your thoughts below or email Steve Busfield or on Twitter