Surrey coach Alan Butcher says he never thought Twenty20 would become the worldwide success story it has.

Speaking to BBC London 94.9 Butcher said: "I didn't expect it to take off as well as it has done, it certainly surprised me, crowds love it.

"It's a massive tournament, massive part of the cricket calendar in England and is now huge all over the world."

Surrey get their English Twenty20 campaign underway with a home game against Essex.

Butcher will be without captain Mark Butcher for the first game due to injury so he has named Mark Ramprakash as skipper. With the added incentive of a possible place in the Twenty20 champions league this autumn there is great excitement going into the tournament.

"It's amazing what's happened this winter with the Twenty20 format and how much money and interest that's generated all over the world," Butcher said.

"So that adds a bit of spice to a tournament that the players are already really keyed up for."

Last year Surrey's Twenty20 sensation was Chris Schofield who went on to play for England at the World Cup in South Africa. He is currently out with a finger injury but is expecting to play a part in the campaign.

Looking back to last season Schofield revealed: "It was pretty scary how things happened.

"I had a plan in my head, I was trying to think about what the batters wanted to do and where they wanted to hit me, and I tried combating that."

"Balls were flying straight down people's throats. All round it was a great performance for me."

And Schofield relished the full houses he played in front of last season at the Oval and Newlands and he is looking forward to more of the same.

He said: "There's that much noise.

"There's dancers, music, it's just unbelievable and it's fantastic to be out there playing to such a big crowd."

(Chris Schofield will be the summariser for commentary on Surrey's opening game of their Twenty20 campaign against Essex at the Oval which you can access on the BBC London website www.bbc.co.uk/london)