da realbet： The Twenty20 Cup returns on Friday for its fifth year with the promise of more thrills and spills, plus a few surprises along the way
da fezbet： Cricinfo staff21-Jun-2007
Surrey’s Mark Butcher and Middlesex’s Ed Smith ahead of the London derby, which kicks off on Friday © Empics
The Twenty20 Cup returns on Friday for its fifth year with the promise ofmore thrills and spills, plus a few surprises along the way. The 72 groupmatches start tomorrow and culminate in the finals day at Edgbaston onAugust 4.Leicestershire’s task of retaining the title for the third time in fiveyears will be made more difficult by the loss of Darren Maddy to grouprivals Warwickshire, but Paul Nixon and Stuart Broad will ensure theteam-spirit that has guided them to every finals day is evident again.Nixon, the most experienced Twenty20 player in the world, said that thesecret to a successful campaign is about playing with freedom: “It’s allabout us expressing ourselves and showing no fear. Our success has beenbased on having effective game plans and players thriving on theresponsibility they are given within that plan. We face that same challengeagain this summer, but the guys have every reason to believe we can besuccessful again.”Surrey have sold over 100,000 tickets this season and are counting onanother successful campaign lead by their reality TV stars, Mark Ramprakashand Mark Butcher. With James Benning and Alistair Brown intheir midst, the leading big hitters in Twenty20, Surrey are set forcapacity crowds and should be in the running for a successful charge tofinals day, for the fifth year in a row, despite poor form this season. As their captain Mark Butcher says: “It’s a great chance to play in front of some packed houses.”Many counties are reporting unprecedented ticket sales for their groupmatches. Darren Gough’s return to Yorkshire has ensured a sell-out crowd atHeadingley for the clash against Lancashire on June 25. Essex will also behanging out the ‘house-full’ sign for all four of their home fixtures atChelmsford.The World Cup singled out Nixon and Ravi Bopara as big game players, andTwenty20 certainly helps with that.As the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship looms in September, there isadded incentive for home-grown players to shine as well as overseas stars tobrush up their skills. Lancashire have bolstered their squad with thesigning of Sanath Jayasuriya.Justin Langer, the competition’s leading run scorer with 464 from eightmatches, will aim to bring Twenty20 glory back to Somerset, who won thetitle in 2005 with Graeme Smith at the helm.While of course aggressive hitting is what everyone comes to see, theplayers now talk more of aggressive bowling. As Butcher says: “Take as many wickets as you can early on. Then slot as many out of the park as possible.”As usual there will be some novel attractions on offer around the country.For Northamptonshire’s match against Worcestershire on June 22 there will bea ‘Monty Zone’ complete with a lookalike competition. The hot-tub returns toGrace Road for the opening match of the competition, and there will also bea ready made patio area complete with pizza delivery.Warwickshire have introduced a Ladies Day at Edgbaston on June 26, includinga game between the England A Ladies and an Invitational XI in a match on themain square. A Pimms reception and beauty bus will also be at the ground. Itcould only happen in Twenty20.
