EVEN this year's appallingly wet midsummer weather has not been able to extinguish the drama and excitement packed into Yorkshire's Twenty20 programme and there is no doubt that the competition has now become county cricket's biggest money-spinner.

In the main, Twenty20 is a batsman's game with bowlers happy if they can avoid being hit into kingdom come and it is surprising how many of the big boundary blows are the result of proper strokes rather than ungainly slogs.

Matthew Wood's unbeaten 96 from 62 balls with four sixes and eight fours against Nottinghamshire was packed with authentic strokes off the meat of the bat and Mark Ealham's 91 which stole the game from Yorkshire was even better. His runs required only 35 balls and rarely have I seen more sweetly timed leg-side strokes than those which showered nine sixes on to spectators and also brought him five fours.

Then Yorkshire's Australian batsman, Phil Jaques, put on the style the following evening with 91, which contained five sixes and nine fours against Leicestershire, and it was again tough luck on the Tykes that Darren Maddy should reply with a match-winning 111 from 60 balls with six sixes and eight fours.

Then there was the amazing sight of Lancashire's Andrew Flintoff being outgunned by Ian Harvey's stunning century at Headingley in York-shire's victory in front of a 11,000-plus crown on Wednesday night.

Now I know that this sort of stuff may not go down too well with a generation weaned mainly on Championship cricket but consider what Middlesex scorer Mike Smith, the club's former elegant batsman, had to say about a blistering Twenty20 century scored against his county recently by Kent's Australian all-rounder, Andrew Symonds.

"It was an astounding exhibition of glorious strokeplay which was wonderful to watch and Symonds would not have felt free to risk such an innings in anything but Twenty20 cricket," he said.

"The competition gave Symonds the opportunity to strike out at virtually every ball and it provided superb entertainment which the fans would otherwise have been denied."

The present problem with the Twenty20 game is that it makes 45-overs cricket seem such a drag for much of the time, the latter contest containing too few overs for a 'proper' match and too many for instant and continuous drama.

But the drawback with Twenty20 is that the whole match lasts for less than three hours and spectators can be left feeling that they would have liked to be entertained for much longer.

I also believe that the fans will get tired of crawling through rush-hour traffic for 5.30pm starts - it took me two and a half hours to get to Derby the other week - and I think some adjustments need to be looked at.

So how about this radical plan of mine which would help younger professional cricketers enjoy participating in the game and give spectators more action for their money - while at the same time kicking into touch the 45-overs cricket?

Instead of the totesport League of two divisions, bring in a Twenty-20 League of the same format but with a county's FIRST and SECOND teams competing against the same county opponents on the same afternoon.

For instance, if Middlesex were visiting Headingley, their Second XI would play Yorkshire Seconds and the first teams would then play their game as the main attraction, providing, in all, about six or seven hours of exciting cricket. Each team would gain four points for a win and these would be added together so that the club would either be promoted or relegated at the end of the season.

There would be added travelling costs, of course, for visiting teams who would have to book twice as many players into hotels, but this outlay would soon be raked back if the games were played to packed houses.

With 45-overs cricket out of the way, the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy or its equivalent could be organised with group matches first and then the knockout stages, giving us a similar format to the old Benson and Hedges Cup which had many admirable qualities.

Counties would then be playing more 50 overs cricket than they do now and that should give valuable experience to those players who go on to play one-day cricket for England, whose games are of a similar duration.

Another advantage of spreading Twenty20 cricket over a full season would be that the Championship would not have to take a ridiculous enforced rest during the middle of the summer - and that would delight me and everyone else who also enjoys the real thing.

Updated: 09:18 Saturday, July 17, 2004