The Twenty20 Cup went from strength to strength, 305,000 attending in total in 2004, with average crowds almost 6,000.

Lord's hosted its first game and 26,500 squeezed in to see Middlesex face Surrey - the biggest crowd at a county game, barring cup finals, for 51 years.

A year later, the total attendance topped 500,000 for the first time and in 2006, 495,000 saw the tournament, with the average crowd approaching 7,000.

In 2005 Leicestershire hosted an International 20/20 Club Championship, won by Faisalabad Wolves, with teams from Sri Lanka and South Africa also competing.