It's enough to make cricket's traditionalists splutter on their gin and tonics.

When Worcestershire play Warwickshire next week a few fans will watch the action from a jacuzzi at the edge of the pitch.

A ticket for Warwickshire's home games will also entitle you to free admission to one of Birmingham's nightclubs while Sussex and Nottinghamshire players have stripped to the waist to help attract a female audience to their matches.

'It's just not cricket.' You can just hear a few of the greybeards in the deckchairs at Hove muttering their defiance.

Well, they're right in a way because Twenty20 Cup cricket is a format which will undoubtedly have the game's purists recoiling in horror.

But it might just help attract the new, younger audience which cricket needs if it is to flourish in the long-term.

The ECB have poured thousands of pounds into the new competition, firstly by discovering if there was a market for a much shorter version of the sport and then by promoting it with a vigour not normally associated with the game's powerbrokers.

And, even before the first ball is deposited into the crowd at the Rose Bowl tonight, the indications are that their money has not been wasted.

Cricket is desperate to attract a new audience which is why the majority of matches will start at 5.30pm in a bid to bring in the office workers, women and school kids and be over in less than three hours.

Hampshire, who launch the competition against Sussex tonight, are expecting a full house crowd of 9,000, the majority of them in that age group between 16-34 years which the advertisers and marketing men love.

They will have been attracted by two things: a game which lasts half the time of a normal one-day match and the countless counter-attractions on offer at the same time.

In Hampshire's case that means live performances by Mis-Teeq, D'Side and United Colours of Sound, a children's fun fair, themed bars, a whole range of other food and drink outlets, face painting, karaoke and a speed bowling competition.

Other counties are embracing the new competition with similar enthusiasm which is why New Road, Worcester, will include a hot tub amongst its spectator facilities next week.

When the ECB decided to introduce the new competition 15 months ago it received a hostile reception, not least from the players.

But over time they have warmed to the idea, the majority intrigued by the fact that the 20 overs a-side format is unlikely to give any county an advantage, regardless of how many world class players they might have.

In any case, who would not be inspired by the prospect of playing in front of 9,000 instead of the 900 or so who normally attend a day's Championship cricket around the country?

The prize money, with £52,000 to the winners thanks to sponsors npower, is not to be sniffed at either.

Of course, the bowlers will hate being slogged all over the place. But batsman will love freeing their arms and trying to hit the ball out of the ground and fielders will relish diving around and hurling the ball in over the stumps.

Most important of all, so will the fans. Everyone loves to see the ball disappearing to all parts, whether they are aged six or 60.

Some counties seem more keen to embrace the new concept than others. According to an ECB press release this week, Gloucestershire's main concession appears to be banning committee members if they turn up with a tie on!

But they are in the minority. When Sussex play their first home game under lights next Wednesday, the crowd will be greeted by fire eaters at the Tate Gates and inside there will be any number of attractions as the county try to draw their share of cricket's new audience.