By Martin Gough BBC Sport at the Rose Bowl

A year ago, Twenty20 cricket took its official first bow at Hampshire's Rose Bowl ground and quickly won over the critics.

Edwards (far right) watches as her final batter prepares

A year later a tournament that was a great success in the men's game has been transferred to the women's, and they are ready to take it a step further.

Not only is this 20-over tournament being contested by four regional teams, comprising the country's best players, but it is also a preparation for the first international game of Twenty20 when New Zealand visit in August.

There was a fanfare on the Rose Bowl's nursery pitch for the launch of the Twenty20 Cup.

A year later, veteran England bat Charlotte Edwards is coming to terms with an alien form of the game, after her side the Knight Riders failed to recover from an early batting collapse.

"It's a whole new game for us and there is a bit of trial and error involved," she admits

"I spoke to a few of the county guys but it is a different game to the men with the strength factor.

"Men can hit sixes pretty much around the wicket but women don't tend to hit as many."

The clock is ticking all the time, which is good because it puts you under pressure to make decisions England captain Clare Connor

Instead the emphasis is on finding gaps in the field, with a par score around 120, about 30 less than in the men's game.

Rival captain Laura Newton's head is still spinning after the V-Team's opening win.

"The game is just fast and furious. You doing really have chance to think about your field settings," she says.

"You can't let one ball go by and have a look around, you're got to be switched on from ball one."

England captain Clare Connor, in charge of the Braves today, is a far more experienced skipper but still the time limits have kept her on her toes in an opening victory over the Super Strikers.

"The clock is ticking all the time, which is good because it puts you under pressure to make decisions, set good fields," she says.

England keeper Mandie Godliman warms up for the Braves

"And if you've only got four overs as a bowler you've got to be on the money straight away."

Both teams in the final, Newton's V-Team and Connor's Braves, follow a similar approach with their batting, taking the standard approach to a one-day game and squeezing it accordingly.

The 20 overs are broken into three blocks - seven overs when the fielding restrictions are in place, seven when they are looking for a cruising speed and six at the end where anything goes.

In the end the difference is that the V-Team, bedecked in blue, manage to keep wickets in hand while the red-clad Braves struggle once Connor's well-paced innings ends on 37.

In reply, Newton makes 47 in a second-wicket partnership of 89 with England stalwart Claire Taylor.

Still the tension is high. Whatever the form of the game, and whoever the competitors, there is nothing that beats a tight finish.

In the end Taylor's controlled aggression is just what is required. She finishes 49 not out, and the V-Team get the required 114 with an over remaining.

SUPER FOURS TWENTY20 Winners: V-Team Finalists: Braves 3rd: Knight Riders 4th: Super Strikers

After two matches, the England squad all have all learned quickly but New Zealand are no novices at the shorter form of the game.

Domestically, they play Max Cricket, which is split into two innings of 10 overs per team.

"They've played a lot of that type of cricket and they're quite attacking so it's going to be tough," says Edwards, who has spent several winters in New Zealand.

Connor believes she has learned valuable lessons not only for Twenty20 but - with five one-day matches against New Zealand this summer and the World Cup less than a year away - for any form of the game.

"You really learn about your team-mates, who wants to step up when the pressure is on," she says after a draining final.

"In the heat of the battle it really makes a difference."