2003

Crash, bang and Pandora's box is opened

Aug 25, 2012: The day the game of cricket was changed forever

No. 46

The birth of Twenty20

Jul 24, 2011: The game's newest format emerged as a marketing gimmick but the cricket went on to out-glamour everything around it

Quarter-final stage introduced for Twenty20 2004

Jul 31, 2003: The England & Wales Cricket Board has resisted the temptation to cook its golden goose, and has announced that the Twenty20 Cup will remain largely unchanged for next season's competition

Surrey set their sights on triple crown

Jul 21, 2003: In the wake of Surrey's emphatic Twenty20 Cup triumph at Trent Bridge, Adam Hollioake, the captain, has set his sights on a domestic treble of trophies

Kittens and cricket

Jul 19, 2003: No more than a couple of years ago, there was an advert doing the rounds on British television, which posed one of the philosophical questions of the age

Ormond shines under the Trent Bridge lights

Jul 18, 2003: In the end it wasn't the thrilling finale that the competition deserved, but it nevertheless produced worthy champions as Surrey became the first ever Twenty20 Cup winners at Trent Bridge

The Twenty20 Cup reaches its grand finale

Jul 18, 2003: On Saturday a new generation of cricket fans will assemble en masse at Trent Bridge, the venue for the first-ever Twenty20 Cup final

Cork handed fine and suspended sentence

Jul 14, 2003: Dominic Cork has been given a three-match ban, suspended for 12 months, and fined £1000 at an ECB disciplinary hearing at Lord's

Twenty20 finals tickets up for grabs

Jul 9, 2003: Twenty20 Cup fans will be delighted to learn that more than 1000 tickets have unexpectedly become available for the finals day extravaganza at Trent Bridge on July 19

Virender Sehwag for Leicestershire

Jun 28, 2003: Virender Sehwag got many starts for Leicestershire, but it took him six innings in the Frizzell County Championship to score his first hundred - which came within a single session

Hodge considers legal action over Cork's 'cheat' accusation

Jun 27, 2003: Brad Hodge is considering taking legal action after being called a "cheat" by Dominic Cork in the aftermath of Derbyshire's defeat by Leicestershire in the Twenty20 Cup on Tuesday

Croft and Maynard win honours in Twenty20

Jun 26, 2003: Despite only winning one of their Twenty20 matches, there were some notable performances by Glamorgan players in the zonal round of the new competition, especially by captain Robert Croft and senior player Matthew Maynard

Draw for semi-final of Twenty20 Cup

Jun 26, 2003: Surrey must overcome Gloucestershire to reach the final of the new Twenty20 Cup competition

Scotland push for Twenty20 inclusion

Jun 26, 2003: Scotland are pushing to be included in next season's Twenty20 Cup on the back of their impressive performances in their early outings in the National League

Cork slams 'cheat' Hodge and 'pathetic' Lamb

Jun 26, 2003: Dominic Cork, the Derbyshire captain, has claimed that there is a "culture of cheating" in the modern game which is threatening cricket's image

Kaif sizzles, but Derbyshire lose a thriller to Leicestershire

Jun 26, 2003: Mohammad Kaif scored a blistering 40-ball 53 for Derbyshire in a Twenty20 Cup match against Leicestershire, but it wasn't enough to snatch victory

Twenty20 Cup audiences to top a quarter of a million

Jun 25, 2003: With a sell-out virtually guaranteed for the Twenty20 Cup Final at Trent Bridge on Saturday 19 July, Twenty20 Cup audiences are set to touch 255,000 for the whole competition

6,500 attend last Twenty20 match despite being a dead rubber

Jun 25, 2003: A crowd of 6,500 attended the Twenty20 match at the Rose Bowl, all the more remarkable as the qualification contest had been decided

Eight counties battle it out tonight for the last two places at Twenty20 Cup Finals Day

Jun 24, 2003: Following their victories last night, Gloucestershire and Surrey are the first two counties to qualify for Twenty20 Cup Finals Day, having won their respective groups

Leicestershire through after controversy at Grace Road

Jun 24, 2003: Leicestershire v Derbyshire at Leicester Leicestershire progressed to finals day with a fifth successive win, but controversy marred their achievement as Derbyshire protested - in vain - about a disputed boundary catch in the closing stages of a