Twenty20 has six appeal

The original Twenty20 Cup resumes for a historic year tomorrow with the two finalists securing places in the inaugural Twenty20 Cup Champions League in the autumn and a chance to win the $5million prize money.

County teams are ready for two weeks of non-stop action in their division matches and are chasing a finals day place at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, July 26 - the place where The Twenty20 Cup began in 2003.

The world’s leading cricketers will again grace the Twenty20 Cup including England Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood (Durham Dynamos), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire Hawks) and Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire Carnegie) all available for their Twenty20 Cup debuts tomorrow.

Glamorgan Dragons have signed Herschelle Gibbs for their Twenty20 Cup campaign, Somerset Sabres feature big hitters Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer whilst Durham Dynamos employ the accuracy of Shaun Pollock to their Men in Black ranks, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul also joining later.

Lancashire Lightning have signed New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent, Chris Lewis re-joins the Surrey Brown Caps, Wavell Hinds joins Derbyshire Phantoms and Worcestershire Royals and England bowler Simon Jones aims to continue his great season in the Twenty20 Cup.

In addition to the explosive cricket, favourites of the Twenty20 Cup return including a hot-tub at Headingley Carnegie, a dunk-pool at Edgbaston, music and dancers across the competition and the players dug-out.

Holders Kent Spitfires will open their defence against Sussex Sharks on Wednesday at Canterbury, and both will be eager to repeat their journey to Finals Day.

Spitfires captain Rob Key said: “Winning the Twenty20 Cup last year was amazing, especially as it was the first time we had reached finals day and we were very much the underdogs.

Kent celebrate last year's Twenty20 Cup triumph

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“We played in front of full houses all the time and enjoyed the fantastic and unique atmosphere which Twenty20 cricket offers.

“I can’t wait to lead the Spitfires in the Cup again this season especially with the Champions League on offer at the end.”

Middlesex Crusaders will ‘turn Lord’s Pink’ on June 16 for their match against Surrey Brown Caps. They have asked all spectators, and media, to join stewards and staff in wearing something pink that evening, with the traditional flags on the stands and the Twenty20 dug-out all in pink to support of their Breakthrough Breast Cancer campaign.

There is a new look to the group stages in 2008 as each team play a symmetrical format of five home and five away games with the groups remaining regional-based, with three groups of six first-class counties.

The Twenty20 Cup group stage concludes on Friday June 27 with quarter-finals to be played from July 7-9 and four teams progressing to finals day at the Rose Bowl.

Marston’s will become an official partner of the Twenty20 Cup in 2008 and join existing partners Clydesdale Bank, npower and totesport.

As part of the two-year deal, Marston’s Smooth becomes the official beer of the Twenty20 Cup and Marston’s will sponsor the umpires in all domestic Twenty20 Cup matches.

The ECB and Marston’s will also marry their respective crowd management and ‘Drink within your boundaries’ campaigns at Twenty20 Cup matches, sharing best practice on issues such as bar staff training.

Sky Sports will televise 12 division matches, plus the quarter-finals and finals day. Ball-by-ball radio coverage is provided by BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra.

Divisions

North: Derbyshire Phantoms, Durham Dynamos, Lancashire Lightning, Leicestershire Foxes, Nottinghamshire Outlaws, Yorkshire Carnegie.

Mid/Wales/West: Glamorgan Dragons, Gloucestershire Gladiators, Northants Steelbacks, Somerset Sabres, Warwickshire Bears, Worcestershire Royals

South: Essex Eagles, Hampshire Hawks, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex Crusaders, Surrey Brown Caps, Sussex Sharks.

Changes to the Twenty20 Cup also include the provision of extra time with 30 minutes or 60 minutes of extra official playing time in all group matches to make up for playing time lost.

The ‘most wins’ tiebreaker has been removed and the tiebreaker that analyses the points gained in matches between teams that finish on equal points has been re-introduced.