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And to think the format started out as a gimmick. When Surrey won the inaugural Twenty20 Cup in the summer of 2003, they did so as reigning County Champions, and though they enjoyed their big day out at Trent Bridge, there was no question that the four-day format was their over-riding priority. Now, however, things are not so clear-cut. After a seismic six months, in which Twenty20 cricket has taken over as the driving force of the world game, the 2008 tournament could quite possibly turn out to be the most important competition in England this summer.That was already set to be the case, but now that the £2.5 million Champions League has been dangled in front of the counties’ eyes, the stakes have got even higher. “I know it’s going to change the whole landscape of how people look at Twenty20 cricket, and indeed the way we react to it,” Surrey’s chief executive, Paul Sheldon, told Cricinfo. “I just hope very much it doesn’t change the variety of cricket and the whole issue of County Championship and Test cricket that the ECB have rightly set out to protect.”On Sunday, the ECB moved quickly to buttress the pre-eminence of England’s Test team – and appease those players whose Twenty20 opportunities have been limited by international appearances – by announcing a £2 million performance-related bonus pool. But to judge by the reactions of the Surrey players who gathered at The Oval on Monday for the launch of their 2008 campaign, it’s going to be hard to halt the momentum of the newest form of the game.”I think it’s fantastic and it’s what cricketers need,” said the former England Test batsman, Usman Afzaal, who joined Surrey from Northamptonshire at the end of 2007. “We’re a sport that gives a hell of a lot, for six months we work from eight in the morning to seven in the evening, and it’s great to see cricketers getting the recognition they are deserving. That’s what the entertainment business does to you. If you start filling seats you have a serious business, and it’s nice to see that cricket is starting to do that.”Afzaal has been a professional cricketer since his Nottinghamshire debut in 1995, and his attitude to Twenty20 cricket has moved with the times. “When it first started I also thought it was a bit of fun, but the most important thing was all the kids around the grounds,” he said. “It was like carnival cricket for three weeks, but then when we went back to the 40 and 50-over games, and the crowds vanished. It was clear we had hit on something special, so it’s nice to see we are now being recognised as entertainers.”For the players at the beginning of their careers, the possibilities currently seem endless. “It is scary yet exciting at the same time,” said Jade Dernbach, who – at the age of 22 – has just been awarded a three-year extension to his Surrey contract. “Just think where cricket might be in four or five years’ time. This is a shop window for everything that’s out there, so all I’m looking to do is do as well as possible. If I do well for Surrey it opens a lot of doors.”At Whitgift School last week, Dernbach broke into Surrey’s Championship side for the first time this season, although it is his limited-overs form that earned him his new contract. For all the determination of the ECB to preserve the pre-eminence of first-class cricket, Dernbach speaks for a new breed of cricketer who sense a shifting of priorities.”There is a very real possibility of that,” said Dernbach, when asked if Twenty20 cricket would eclipse the four-day game. “It’s a massive competition now, with all the publicity around it, and I think everything is just being geared around Twenty20. When you see the amount of money going into it, the danger is the kids of 12 or 13 years old, when they go to the nets are they going to practice technique, or are they going to see how far they want to hit the ball? I think through the younger levels, there needs to be an understanding that four-day cricket is the top of the game. We mustn’t lose sight of that.”All of which adds up to something of a headache for Surrey’s director of cricket, Alan Butcher, whose task it is to weigh up the competing priorities in this most seismic of seasons. “Twenty20 cricket has taken off incredibly after the initial scepticism in the first year,” said Butcher. “The players like it, the public like it and the finance people certainly like it. It’s been the flavour of the last six months, and it’s very apparent it’s not going to go away.”Butcher’s problems have been exacerbated by the row over the participation of ICL players, which could force Surrey to make do without the services of their star spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq. But, he insisted, such political issues would be as far as possible from his squad’s thoughts. “The danger is that people will start looking for the pot of gold before they’ve spotted the rainbow,” said Butcher. “We’ve got to pick the best side to win each game and then we see what happens. You can think as far ahead as you like, but if you don’t win those initial games, you aren’t going to get to the Champions League.”

The Hampshire Academy need only two points from tomorrow’s visit to Stoneham Lane to clinch the Southern Electric Premier League Division 2 championship.But they’ll find relegation-threatened Trojans fired up, ready to make one last ditch attempt to stave off the drop into Division 3."A fortnight ago, we were goners," confessed Trojans skipper Simon Williams. "Since then, we’ve beaten United Services and Lymington – and given ourselves a mathematical chance of staying up."I accept we need a big win tomorrow – but I’ve told the boys they are capable of achieving it."Trojans are certain to be without Tim Osman, who is getting married. "But I’ve persuaded a few of the others to join Tim at the reception, where they can hopefully toast our survival as well."Tony Middleton expects to have a full strength side at his disposal, although quite a number of the Under-19 side will be on the coach bound for Bristol – and the ECB final – immediately after the game.Trojans will, however, need a helping hand from Winchester KS at the Romsey Sports Centre if they are to survive."If Old Tauntonians & Romsey get eight points against them it’s curtains for us – but that’s out of our hands completely," Williams added.The outcome of the Hungerford-Rowledge match could also have impact at the bottom. A 22-point win for Rowledge, currently bottom, would do neither OT’s nor Trojans any good at all.Second-placed Easton & Martyr Worthy entertain Lymington, with Sparsholt visiting United Services.Purbrook, already assured of promotion after last week’s thrilling one-run win at Hursley Park, need ten points from Ventnor’s visit to Purbrook Heath, where South African Willem Prozesky still has his eyes firmly fixed on beating Robin Smith’s all-time league 1,015 run record.He took his season’s tally to 924 after striking a superbly executed century at the Quarters last week and is certain to curb his naturally aggressive instincts as he goes for his fourth hundred of the summer against Ventnor tomorrow.St Cross Symondians, meanwhile, require five points from Havant II’s visit to the Royal Green Jackets Ground to clinch the probably runners-up spot…. and the second promotion place.But Havant are going well, having won their last five matches, with opening pair Simon Greenfield and Jon Owen in particularly good form.In-form Gosport, though, could finish third if they beat off-colour Flamingo.Hursley Park wind up their programme at New Milton, while Redlynch & Hale will be saying their goodbye – after a fleeting excursion into the Premier League – at one-time leaders Alton.

A district cricket match between Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu scheduled for this weekend has proven quite timely for the Central Districts’ selectors.The two teams contain a significant proportion of the members of the CD squad and the traditionally hard-fought match will be a welcome chance to assess the form of players, only a week out from the opening of the State Championship.CD play the first match of the competition against Otago at Wanganui, starting on November 23.New CD coach Mark Greatbatch said it had not been ideal not being able to work with the players for six weeks while they were on strike.The players still in New Zealand had been getting together every fortnight since mid-winter which was something that hadn’t been done before and it had been working well.However, he was confident that getting the players back together and playing cricket, and making them the better players they want to be, would see them pick up where they left off very quickly.There was some competition for places in the side, and Greatbatch was expecting the four members of the New Zealand Under-19 side from last summer, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Ian Sandbrook and Richard Sherlock to all push for places in the side.The side will have to do without bowler Andrew Schwass for the first match. Last year’s most successful bowler for CD, he took 45 wickets at 14.73, dislocated his thumb while batting in Nelson last week. He put it back in himself, continued batting, bowled and then the next day complained of soreness.A check with a specialist showed that he had ruptured a ligament and he has the thumb in a cast for two weeks.Craig Spearman lends a factor to the top of the order that was missing last summer for the side and after his experience in county cricket with Gloucestershire during the winter, he can be expected to be in good shape.”If he is playing well, and it is his day, other sides know what can happen,” Greatbatch said.”He’ll give us experience whoever he is opening with.”Mathew Sinclair had been working hard in Marlborough, where he is playing this year. That has given him a head start over other players because the competition starts a little earlier in the sunshine capital of New Zealand.He scored 90 runs in club cricket last Saturday and had a century the weekend before.”It looks like he is progressing well there,” Greatbatch said.Michael Mason, after a full off-season in which to put the injuries of his past behind him, is looking very fit and Greatbatch is expecting him to be a dangerous bowler this year.Jacob Oram, who is looking to clinch a place in the World Cup side, has already made an impression on Greatbatch with his bowling this year and he is expecting Oram to take his batting to another level this summer.One player who will be watched in Napier over the weekend will be Greg Loveridge who has started the season well with the bat but who hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to bowl yet.CD will name their team for the opening match on Monday.

One month ago international cricket was both a distant memory and a seemingly unreachable goal for Shane Watson. His only outing for Australia in the previous 12 months had been a single match at the ICC World Twenty20 and yet another hamstring injury had plagued his Australian summer, severely denting his hopes of quickly regaining his spot in the ODI side.But timing is everything in cricket and Watson’s naming as Player of the Series in the Indian Premier League came just a few days before Australia needed to decide on a replacement for the injured Matthew Hayden for the one-day series in the West Indies. Three matches into his comeback Watson has fully justified the call-up by scoring his first ODI century at better than a run a ball to set up a seven-wicket win for Australia.”Things are progressing well,” Watson said after the game. “A year or so ago things weren’t looking that great. To be able to come out and get through some games and perform with the bat especially is a lot of fun.”Watson was not surprisingly named Man of the Match for his 126 and 1 for 23 and it was a pleasing turnaround after he was out for a duck in the first over of Friday’s match at the same venue. But Watson was desperate to impress having been given the chance to open and he hopes he can make the position his own in the long-term.”I normally bat three or four in the longer version of the game,” Watson said. “So I enjoy coming in when the ball is new, with a few more gaps and taking on the quicks.”Ricky Ponting batted with Watson through most of the innings as they built up an imposing 190-run partnership and he said it was pleasing to see Watson play such a great hand after six years in and out of the ODI side. “It was a magnificent innings today,” Ponting said. “He controlled the tempo of the innings very, very well.”He’s a big strong lad and I think we saw today just how effective he can be at the top of the order. His bowling spell in the middle of our bowling innings today was pretty impressive as well, so he’s a very, very good all-round cricketer for us.”Ponting was also glad to find some form himself having struggled in the first two games, although he battled with a hand injury and needed treatment from the physio after reaching his half-century. There is a chance he could be rested when the series continues in St Kitts on Friday as Australia have already taken an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match contest.

Somerset’s England star Marcus Trescothick was back at the County Ground this afternoon catching up on some of the mountain of letters that are sent to the ground for him.One letter in particular that brought a smile to the England man’s face was from eight year old Henry Lewis who had written from his home at Gilwern near Abergavenny.Henry had written in his best handwriting: “Well done at Edgbaston. I saw you practicing at Lord’s at the indoor nets. One day I would like to come to Somerset and hope you make a good score.”He continued: “I play for the Under 11’s side at Llanarth Cricket Club and I am very keen to become as good as you.”But it was the next part of the letter that brought the biggest smile from Marcus.The young man from Gilwern went on: “My nickname is ‘Dipper’ because I love chicken dippers. I know your nickname is ‘Banger’ because you like sausages!" before concluding :"Good luck in your next match.”Before returning to his mail bag ‘Banger’ told me: “I really enjoy getting letters like this and if ‘Dipper’ ever comes to Taunton on a day when I am around then I would be very happy to meet him.”

Southern Electric Premier League Division Three side Paultons are seeking a wicket-keeper to play for their 1st XI for the forthcoming season.If you are interested in joining this well-appointed New Forest club, please contact Paul Wilde on 01794 517577 or e-mail: [email protected]

Somerset suffered a frustrating day at The Oval as the third day of their championship match against table toppers Surrey was abandoned without a ball being bowled.After several attempts to get things started the day’s play was eventually called off by umpires Graham Burgess and John Holder in the mid afternoon, to leave the Cidermen kicking their heels with disappointment.Following yesterday’s very positive performance and the late breakthrough by Ian Blackwell to remove Graham Thorpe, Somerset were hoping to get early wickets this morning and set themselves a target to chase.As it was they will just have to wait until tomorrow and hope that the weather will be kinder to them in their attempts to get the result they feel that they have earned from this match.

Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed has left Sri Lanka amidst unconfirmedrumours that he has been sacked.The 72-year-old manager checked out of the team hotel on Tuesday afterreportedly being summoned back to Lahore.The PCB refused to confirm the sacking on Tuesday. Khalid Butt, the PCB’smedia manager, was quoted by the Dawn newspaper as saying: “I have noknowledge about Yawar Saeed’s removal as Pakistan team manager. As far as Iknow, there is no official announcement forthcoming from the cricket board.”Saeed, who had been appointed up until the 2003 World Cup, appears to be thesecond casualty following Pakistan’s recent poor form. Coach Mudassar Nazarwas released earlier this month.Former manager Brigadier Khawaja Muhammad Nasir is tipped to replace Saeed.Nazir has filled the post on a number of occasions after being firstappointed in 1984.Pakistan are due to play three Test matches against Australia after theongoing ICC Champions Trophy, the first of which will be played at Colombo.The final two games will be played at Sharjah.They will be anxious to reverse a poor run that has seen them struggle intri-series at Tangiers and Nairobi in August. They also failed during theICC Champions Trophy, losing to Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the tournamentcurtain raiser.However, the chances of Pakistan defeating the powerful Australians lookslim after injuries to key batsmen Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam-ul-Haq. WasimAkram and Saeed Anwar have both made themselves unavailable for the series.South Africa-based Englishman Richard Pybus, Mudassar’s successor as coach,left for Colombo via Dubai Tuesday night along with six players named in theTest squad Saturday.

During the past four years Andrew Hall has been shot in the hand at point-blank range by a mugger and, just two months ago, been driven around in his own car with a gun pointed at his head by two hijackers. After this, even facing Brett Lee (recorded at 157.4km/h on Friday) probably doesn’t seem that daunting.Hall made 70 out of South Africa’s 239 all out on the first day of the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match at Newlands before Australia replied with 46 no wicket off just eight overs before the close. It is fair to say that Australia once again had the better of the day, but Hall, one of three South Africans making his debut, at last produced some of the fighting spirit the side has lacked over the course of the summer.Before the match, a fair bit was made of the possibility that the three new South Africans might not be carrying the scars produced by four successive beatings at the hands of the Australians. In Hall’s case the speculation proved to be spot on. Even Adam Gilchrist acknowledged that Hall had played with a confidence and assurance lacking in much of the cricket South Africa have played this summer.The first two-thirds of the day followed a predictable course after Mark Boucher had won a rare toss for South Africa. He opted to bat and the three Australian seamers picked up a wicket apiece in their opening spells with Shane Warne, in his 100th Test match, snatching a fourth when he bowled Neil McKenzie as lunch beckoned.McKenzie and Jacques Kallis had taken South Africa from 25 for three to 70 for four, and the loss of McKenzie for 20 came at a critical time for the batting side.Glenn McGrath underlined this point in the fourth over after the interval when he produced a well-nigh unplayable delivery that square Kallis up, kicked off just back of length and took the outside edge to give Adam Gilchrist the first of four catches in the innings.From 73 for five South Africa were quickly 92 for six as McGrath accounted for Ashwell Prince, beautifully caught by Gilchrist one-handed at full stretch to his left. After Boucher made 29, Gilchrist repeated the trick, this time going full stretch to his right. South Africa seemed all but finished at 147 for seven, but Paul Adams joined Hall for what was to prove the best stand of the innings.Gilchrist acknowledged afterwards that Australia had possibly attacked the eighth-wicket pair too vigorously in a bid to wrap up the tail, but Hall, hitting powerfully off his legs, and Adams, who has patented his own unique style, kept the bowling at bay. It was hugely entertaining stuff, mainly, perhaps, because South Africa were at last taking the fight back to Australia, and between them Hall and Adams added 69.Adams made 35, his Test best, before falling to a sharp catch by Shane Warne at slip off Jason Gillespie, and it was Gillespie who finally undid Hall after more than three hours at the crease.Warne finished off the innings to leave Australia to face eight overs before the close and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer made the most of it. Dewald Pretorius, the 24-year-old who grew up in a Bloemfontein orphanage, took the brunt of the onslaught, conceding 33 runs in his first three overs in Test cricket as Langer, in particular, went after him.There were nine fours in Australia’s 46, five of them going to Langer, who ended the day on 28, and four to Hayden who will resume on Saturday with 17 and South Africa were once again on the back foot.But for once there had been some resistance and Hall and Adams brought the Newlands crowd, subdued for much of the day, alive before and after tea.The pitch, though, flattened out noticeably as the day wore on and Australia should have the best of it on the second and, probably, the third days. By making four changes, South Africa had hoped somehow to check the momentum built up by Australia in the first four contests between the two sides this summer. They came close to it on Friday, but probably not close enough.

A fine all round effort from the spinners and a century opening partnership put Lancashire in control at the end of the second day of play versus Boland Academy at Bellville.Chris Schofield bowling for the first time on tour struck twice in an over just before lunch to remove danger man Vuuren and Jephta second ball to tilt the balance of play to Lancashire. After lunch Keedy bowling for the first time since his back injury, took two wickets and Gary Yates polished off the tail with figures off three for 15, reducing Boland to 201 all out, a deficit of 136.With one session of play remaining in the day captain John Crawley promoted himself to open with Mark Chilton. The two put on 151 runs before Crawley was stumped with the last ball of the day for a brilliant 101. Mark Chilton who desperately seeking runs having not scored double figures all tour was left unbeaten on 49.