Yorkshire did not come out of it as badly as they had feared when they were given a 10.30am start for their opening Twenty20 Cup match against Derbyshire Scorpions at Headingley last weekend.

The reason for the early start was that the game was originally due to be televised live on Channel 4 but because too few tickets had been sold the television company and the ECB agreed to bring forward the game at Bristol a couple of days and televise that instead.

Yet Yorkshire still managed a crowd of 5,342 which included 1,700 dyed-in-the-wool members who are not supposed to enjoy this youthful brand of cricket and 1,000 adults who paid at the gate to get in, the remainder being children who had been admitted free.

The attendance turned out to be twice as big as Bristol and Headingley would certainly not have appeared empty had the game been seen on television.

But packaging is everything in this glitzy competition and the gaps were not as obvious at Bristol because the Nevil Road ground does not have the same capacity.

It may be that 10.30am Saturday starts are not yet considered trendy but there are definite advantages over those matches which begin at 5.30pm.

Roads are at their quietest first thing on Saturday mornings and getting to Headingley was a piece of cake for the fans, unlike the snarl ups which can occur for Twenty20 games due to begin at the height of the rush hour.

Families were able to enjoy the thrills without being pestered by drunken yobbos - who tend to get up rather later in the day - and then at the end of the match they were able to saunter off and spend their afternoon elsewhere.

True cricket followers - and there were quite a few about - were left with enough time to go and take in some league cricket, so bringing a civilised end to what had been a surprisingly pleasant day.

If Yorkshire get a 10.30am start next year, it would be worth considering holding a schools' final or some similar game after the main attraction.

I am sure that plenty of people would have chosen to stay on in the warm sunshine last Saturday to have watched such a game - and what a thrill it would have been for the kids taking part to be involved in a match on a Test ground in front of a large crowd.

Gimmicks and sideshows are all very well at limited overs matches but they have the effect of diverting the attention of youngsters away from the cricket.

A junior game 'thrown in' to the main event and keenly contested should keep everyone interested.

There can be no denying that Twenty20 cricket has got off to a great start and Grace Road was fuller on Monday for the Leicestershire-Yorkshire game than it has been for years.

But the ECB and the counties should reserve judgement for a little longer. The weather was absolutely perfect for the first few matches and shirt-sleeved crowds were able to enjoy the action basking in the sun.

Had the weather been atrocious, however, general opinion could have been that hanging around for 40 overs or less of cricket was a complete waste of time.

I remember a few years' ago when Yorkshire pioneered day-night cricket at the Don Valley Stadium and the balmy evenings then were more reminiscent of St Tropez than Sheffield.

It was magnificent the first year, but so different the next when the nights were cool and damp and after that the tournament just fizzled out.

Updated: 11:03 Saturday, June 21, 2003