Twenty20 / Editor / 20 May 2007 /

County players can soon look forward to playing in front of full houses, as the Twenty20 Cup is approaching. The tournament has been a revelation and, now in its fifth year, it is fast becoming the highlight of the county season.

It all kicks off on Friday June 22 and, with the inaugural Twenty 20 World Cup on the horizon in September, home-grown players will be keen to make an impression this summer, especially as England's poor World Cup campaign will surely open the door for new faces.

Fans can be assured that the sedate batting tactics offered up by the national team in the Caribbean will not be in evidence. The format has certainly caught the cricket public's imagination and the finals day at Edgbaston on August 4 will be another showpiece occasion. Here is a run down of the teams to watch.

Leicestershire Foxes triumphed in a thrilling final last year and they are sure to be amongst the favourites this time around. That four-run victory over the Nottinghamshire Outlaws was their second cup win, and a strong start in the Friends Provident Trophy this term (three wins from four) suggests they are in decent form in the limited overs format.

Their chances of a third win have been hit by the departure of Darren Maddy. The new Warwickshire skipper has been the tournament's star performer, averaging 35.83 with the bat at a strike rate of 138.52. He became the first player to pass 1,000 Twenty20 career runs in last year's victorious campaign and will also give the Bears a handy bowling option and solid fielding.

The Foxes are ranked fourth in the Bartercard Power Rankings - the table that rates domestic Twenty20 teams around the world - and are available at 16 in the early betting to win this year's competition.

The 92 ranked teams are headed by Australia's Victorian Bushrangers, while Surrey Lions sit in third place. Mark Butcher's men won the first Twenty 20 Cup in 2003 and they trade as favourites at 9 to lift the trophy again.

They have reached every finals day since that 2003 victory, losing to the Foxes in the 2004 final and missing out in the semi-finals for the last two seasons. Those hoping for high scoring contests might want to visit the Oval, as the Lions have been in dominant mood with the bat.

Mark Ramprakash has picked up from where he left off last year, amassing 676 first class runs from eight innings, the most in the country. His unbeaten 266 powered Surrey to a total of 626-3 against Sussex at the weekend, but it is in the shorter form of the game that they have really found form.

Gloucestershire were on the receiving end of a world record 50 over score of 496-4 in a Friend Provident clash, and that innings run rate of 9.92 would be considered good going in a Twenty 20 match. Should the likes of Ali Brown and James Benning find their range, the Lions will be hard to stop.

The current second favourites in the Twenty20 Cup winner's market are Essex Eagles. They missed out in the semi-finals last time around and possess a potent all-round team that has become a force in all one-day cricket.

They have won the National/Sunday League title for the past two seasons and have won two of their three opening Friends Provident fixtures this term, having come third in the Southern Conference last year.

Ronnie Irani and Mark Pettini usually provide a flying start and two of England's in-form young guns, Alistair Cook and Ravi Bopara, make up a dependable top order. The bowling has sometimes lacked firepower but the return of Andre Nel this season should address that problem. The Eagles trade at 9.2 to win the cup.

Another team packed full of internationals is Lancashire Lightning. Mal Loye, Brad Hodge, Stuart Law and Andrew Flintoff should clear the boundary more than most and their bowling unit contains England discards Saj Mahmood and James Anderson, as well as Muttiah Muralitharan and Flintoff.

The Lightning lost out in the 2005 final and are currently on offer at 9.4 in the winner's market. They have had a disappointing start to their Friends Provident campaign, sitting in ninth place in the Northern Conference, above only Scotland.

The winners of that 2005 final were Somerset Sabres and the West Country outfit look well-equipped to go well again. Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer make an explosive opening partnership and Cameron White is the tournament's biggest hitter. The Aussie star has the tournament's two highest scores to his name and averages 65.7 with the bat at a strike rate of 176.61.

The Sabres had a poor Twenty20 campaign as holders last season, winning two of their eight games in the Midlands/Wales/West division and they trade at 11.5 to go all the way this time around.

England's current one-day squad will fear for their futures and nobody's place is under more scrutiny than Michael Vaughan. The injury-prone skipper has stated his intention to retain his place in all forms of the game but the selectors might see the Twenty20 World Cup as the ideal environment to blood a new captain.

Vaughan has only played two Twenty20 matches, both for England, but he can be expected to feature for Yorkshire Phoenix this summer in his bid to play as much cricket as possible. The early season pace-setters in the Championship first division have never reached a finals day and new skipper Darren Gough will be desperate to improve that record.

He leads a team that contains nine players with international experience, which might suggest Gough will not reprise his role of pinch hitter that he filled for Essex last year. Yorkshire trade at 16.5 to win their first silverware since 2002 and begin their campaign at holders Leicestershire.

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