Somerset all set for Twenty20 Cup competition

Cricket's newest one day cricket competition the Twenty20 Cup gets underway on Friday evening at Taunton when Somerset entertain Warwickshire in a match that starts at 5.30pm.

The new competition that has replaced the old Benson and Hedges Cup has been introduced with the express aim of attracting a younger audience, and will feature all the thrills and spills of one-day cricket in a game that will be completed inside three hours.

Over the space of the next twelve days Somerset will play five matches in their group facing Gloucestershire and Warwickshire at home and Glamorgan, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire away.

At the end of the zonal stages the three group winners along with the best runner up will go forward to the semi finals that will precede the Twenty20 Cup Final at Trent Bridge on Saturday July 19th.

Now that they no longer have an interest in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy and with prize money of £52,000 at stake this is a competition that Somerset will be keen to do well in, and the coach Kevin Shine has already told members that his side `are taking it very seriously indeed.'

Keith Parsons who has become something of an expert in one day cricket for the Cidermen and whose car was hit on the roof by a big hit from Aaron Laraman in one of the warm ups told me: "It's something new so nobody quite knows how it's going to go, but I'm certainly looking forward to it. We have had a couple of good days working at how to approach it. Playing the shots and not getting out is what it's going to be all about."

Cornishman Carl Gazzard who has been opening in one day matches recently said: "It's quite exciting, and should be good fun, although I think that it will be more fun for the spectators than the players. Certainly runs will be scored very quickly, and as a batsman it will either be your day or not."

All rounder Keith Dutch told me: "This is the first year of the new competition so nobody is quite sure the right or the wrong way to play it, and early on there are likely to be some extremely high scores and some low scores. It should be fun to watch so lets hope that we get a good crowd here, we're certainly all up for it."

Former skipper Jamie Cox, who seems to have hit a good run of form described the game succinctly: "It will be a lot of fun and cricket in it's purest formjust go out there and hit the cover off the ball!" he said.

The Somerset squad sees the return of Aaron Laraman and Gareth Andrew after injury and includes all rounder Wes Durston who has done well for the seconds recently.

The full squad to play Warwickshire is - Carl Gazzard, Jamie Cox, Mike Burns, Ian Blackwell, Keith Parsons, Wes Durston, Keith Dutch, Rob Turner, Simon Francis, Steffan Jones, Aaron Laraman and Gareth Andrew.