By Anna Thompson

It was launched amid a tremendous fanfare and the first season of the Twenty20 Cup duly lived up to its exciting reputation.

It was always going to be a hard act to follow but it seems the cricketing public cannot get enough of the shortest version of the game.

Lord's was a sell-out for the match against Surrey

This season, the group stages have just been completed and despite unseasonal unsettled weather, crowds have continued to flock to the fast and furious matches.

Seven group matches have sold out, including one at Lord's, which got into the Twenty20 groove for the first time.

In fact, the match between Middlesex and Surrey on Thursday was the biggest crowd at a county game, barring cup finals, for 51 years.

Last year the Cup attracted 255,000 spectators and this year it will certainly surpass that figure with 240,000 ticket sales for the group games already, not including the three washed-out matches.

Add to that the quarter-finals, which have been included for the first time, and the final taking place at the 21,000-capacity Edgbaston on 7 August and attendance is bound to be even higher.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb told BBC Sport the secret of Twenty20's success was the shortness of matches.

He said: "It's packaged into a relatively short time-span to fit in with people's leisure time.

"Whether it's kids after school, people after work, people are very busy in their lives and don't have very much time.

There was a definite upsurge in attendances in other competitions ECB spokesman Mark Hodgson

"Four-day cricket is fine for the aficionado but many people can't afford to come and watch a whole day's play and this is a neat package."

County bosses are happy too because they are receiving much-needed financial boosts to their coffers.

The ultimate aim of Twenty20 is to revive flagging interest in county cricket and attract a new generation of followers to the game.

Mark Hodgson of the ECB told BBC Sport: "We had a great year last year.

"The weather was fantastic, we had a lot of good advance publicity for the tournament, so we were very aware the second year was going to be a lot harder for us.

The crowds have flocked to Twenty20 matches

"But we have worked very hard at it and the competition has gone from strength to strength.

"We have seen some fantastic crowds and some good action despite the fact it hasn't been good weather this year so far.

"The big thing for us is that it has got people who wouldn't normally go to a game, coming in the turnstiles.

"This is a really good introductory version of the game."

Research is being carried out to see if this new-wave of enthusiasm is having an impact on other forms of cricket.

Hodgson added: "It is not easy to quantify as yet but last season there was a definite upsurge in attendances in other competitions but I don't know whether this was down to the good weather or the Twenty20.

"But research is being carried out and we will have more of an idea at the end of the season."