Elworthy's Twenty20 vision

Steve Elworthy is Tournament Director for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament © Getty Images

This feature by Steve Elworthy was taken from the ECB's official programme for the England v New Zealand npower Test Series - you can buy all your England programmes online here

For the country which gave Twenty20 cricket to the world, the planned events of June 2009 will be a huge celebration.

Lord’s, the Oval and Trent Bridge will be witnessing something very special when the second World Twenty20 tournament takes place, while Taunton has been chosen to host the entire group stage of the parallel women’s competition.

Support for Twenty20 cricket has been incredible here since the ECB launched the Twenty20 Cup in 2003. Sell-out county grounds have become widespread, with full houses recorded too at Lord’s – England’s biggest-capacity ground – for Middlesex games.

What has already been apparent in English domestic matches, and at the inaugural World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa last September, is that it is the cricket itself which holds centre stage.

Yes, there were boundary-edge dancers in South Africa, and there was lots of music and fireworks on occasions, but nothing was more spectacular than the cricket – right from the very first match, in which South Africa and West Indies slugged it out in a game which saw 410 runs scored from the 40 overs bowled.

As Tournament Director in South Africa, I learned an awful lot about the event as a new addition to the international cricket scene, and to get the chance now to run this second tournament in England is a wonderful honour for me.

What I believe is essential is that we create a tournament that is tailored to the England market. We will have dug-outs and music – which have already become a strong part of the Twenty20 brand here – but we will also seek to introduce one or two new products, in or around the cricket, to further improve the entertainment-value of what is on show.

Perhaps one of those innovations will be an interactive zone at the grounds, in which fans will be able to experience the thrill of what it is like to face a ball out in the middle – and linked to the actual live match going on at that time.

Yuvraj Singh was one of the star performers at the last World Twenty20, launching Stuart Broad for six sixes in one amazing over

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Whatever, we will be making sure that the timing of games is right, that the length of the whole tournament is right and that good cricket pitches are produced so that the players can really demonstrate their skills.

Ticket pricing is another area of vital importance, and by June 30 we hope to be able to give details of the ticketing arrangements for all stages of next summer’s tournament.

In South Africa last year the tickets were extremely cheap, which ensured that maximum crowds attended the games. Here in England, as in South Africa, we must balance the need for tickets to be affordable to a requirement that we position ourselves correctly in the wider international sports events marketplace, and also that we want stadiums filled to capacity.

As a former cricketer, who played in the 1999 Cricket World Cup here in England, I can imagine the excitement of the players at the prospect of playing in the World Twenty20 tournament in front of a packed Lord’s, for instance.

The World Twenty20 final at Lord’s, especially, will be an amazing occasion – an incredible blend of an iconic ground which has such stature around the world with this thrilling new format of the game that has already captured the imagination of millions.

Dates:

Group matches are scheduled to start on June 5, with the final at Lord’s planned for June 21.

Lord’s will host the opening game, and the final, with the Oval and Trent Bridge staging a semi-final each. The women’s group matches will be held at Taunton, with the semi-finals and final all to be played immediately prior to the corresponding men’s matches, and at the same venues.

Groups (seeding in brackets):

A – India (1), Bangladesh, Zimbabwe; B – Pakistan (2), England, Associate 1; C – Australia (3), Sri Lanka, West Indies; D – New Zealand (4), South Africa, Associate 2.