The Oval to host 2005 Twenty20 Finals Day

The Oval was named today as the venue for the Finals Day of next year's Twenty20 Cup, which will take place on Saturday, July 30. Trent Bridge hosted the first Finals Day in 2003 and Edgbaston had the honour this year.

Following redevelopments that have been carried out over the last year, the capacity at The Oval has been increased to 23,000, which will ensure that more people than ever before will watch the Finals Day. The format for the day itself will remain similar to previous years, with the two semi-finals played during daylight hours, before a floodlit final. Surrey themselves won the Twenty20 Cup in 2003, and finished runner-up to Leicestershire in 2004.

The structure of the competition will be moderately expanded for 2005: the quarter-final stage remains, but each county will play eight, rather than five, group matches - four home and four away. The increase is to guarantee counties home derby fixtures against local rivals.

"We decided to expand the competition modestly for next year," said David Morgan, the chairman of the ECB. "This reflects the growing interest in this format of the game, with attendances up by 12% from 2003 to 2004 despite some indifferent weather this summer." He continued: "Surrey County Cricket Club has an excellent reputation for staging major cricket matches, and I know they will host the Twenty20 Finals Day in similar professional fashion."

Surrey's chief exexcutive Paul Sheldon added: "We are very pleased to have been awarded the Twenty20 Finals for 2005. This has been made possible by the support of Lambeth Council, the consistent quality of our pitches, and our great record in selling out and staging major match-days." A fortnight ago, The Oval won the ECB's award for producing the best pitches in the country for the third consecutive year.