The Twenty20 Cup reaches its grand finale

On Saturday a new generation of cricket fans will assemble en masse at Trent Bridge, the venue for the first-ever Twenty20 Cup final. At the competition's launch back in May, in the trendy Kensington Roof Gardens complete with pop bands and fancy dress, the general consensus was "ok, it's a gimmick, but let's see what happens." A gimmick it remains, but it has turned out to be a successful one.

The ECB have gone to great pains to tell us how the crowds have been on the up, which was their preliminary aim. And with a sell-out crowd for the finals day, audiences are set to touch 255,000 for the whole competition, thrashing the 2002 Benson and Hedges Cup in terms of bums on seats, as well as breasts in jacuzzis.

The day kicks off at 10.45am with the first and less glamorous semi-final, between Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Leicestershire won the North group with five wins out of five - even though Dominic Cork did his best to dispute that - while Warwickshire made it as the best runner-up. They lost only one game, against the other semi-finalists Gloucestershire, and were blasted there mainly off the back of Nick Knight's bat. Knight smashed 235 runs in the group stages and he will need to continue to shine brightly against the wily Leicestershire Foxes' attack, who have used the spinners as the secret of their success.

Indeed, Virender Sehwag surprisingly heads the Leicestershire bowling averages, and he and Jeremy Snape will play a big part in slowing things down. Warwickshire too have relied on their slow bowlers, and Neil Smith and Collins Obuya will have to work out a way of keeping Brad Hodge quiet - he averages 47.00 with a top score of 97.

The second semi starts at 2.45pm, but promises to be worth the wait. Surrey take on Gloucestershire, undoubtedly the two best one-day teams in the country, and this tie is worthy of a final itself. Both breezed through the group stages unscathed, and both have dangermen worth watching. For Gloucestershire, Ian Harvey took to Twenty20 like a bat to ball. He became the first - and only - player to score a century with a blistering 50-ball 100 against Warwickshire. He averaged 80.33, by far the highest, and along with his fellow Antipodean, Craig Spearman, (averaging 44.75) they have the most explosive top order of the four teams.

For Surrey, Azhar Mahmood stands out above all their international superstars. Mahmood only played in three group matches due to Pakistan's involvement in the NatWest Challenge, but he certainly made his mark with both bat and ball. He averaged over 50 runs, took eight wickets under ten apiece and is a proven matchwinner. Adam Hollioake, Surrey's captain, is also tailor-made for the game with his buccaneering batting, and he heads the competition's wicket-takers with 13.

The winner of the second semi will be favourites for the final, which starts under the lights at 7.15pm. The finale will complete a long day, but if it's anything like the group stages, then it should be an exciting one. And bearing in mind Atomic Kitten will be strutting their stuff in the interval, there will be enough to keep everyone interested.