The Benson & Hedges Cup began in 1972 when twenty teams took part. The seventeen first class counties were joined by Minor Counties North, Minor Counties South and Cambridge University who were to alternate entry with Oxford annually.

The teams were organized in four groups of five with every team playing each other once. There was three points for a win with a bonus for bowling the other side out which was scrapped for the second season of the competition. The top two teams in each group went into the knockout quarter-finals.

From 1975 Oxford and Cambridge formed a combined Universities team. In 1980 Scotland entered and the Minor Counties got just one team. When Durham became a first-class county in 1992 one of the groups had six teams and when Ireland joined in 1994 there were two groups of six and two groups of five.

There was an experiment in 1993 and 1994 of a straight knockout cup but it reverted to its original format in 1995. Ireland joined in 1994 to make 22 teams in the competition.

The competition was scrapped after the 1998 season to be replaced by a knockout Super Cup for the top eight finishers in the Championship the previous season. It continued to be sponsored by Benson & Hedges.

Gloucestershire won the cup in 1977 and 1999.