County cricket: Somerset and Lancashire set early pace in T20 Blast

Twenty20 cricket is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding with celebrations running throughout the season, the ECB proud of the once bold new format that has taken the world by storm. It star-studded matches, packed with world class batters, dynamic fielders, fast men and mystery spinners, have transformed the game’s finances and established it as the Premier League of the summer months. In an alternative universe maybe.

The “every ball is an event” excitement of 2003 felt lost in a disowned past at Lord’s this week as a London derby played out in front of a sparse crowd. There has been advertising, the product is strong and there’s not even fierce competition for the attention of sports fans this summer, yet a feeling persists that it just doesn’t matter enough to pay the entrance fee, turn up and watch – certainly not in the numbers that once saw taxis disgorging office workers who rushed into grounds so they did not miss the first ball (and, it must be said, the first pint).

The competition’s media presence is thin, with another format scheduled for August proving a shinier bauble to ogle. Though quite why national newspapers should be so dismissive of the Blast in its editorial priorities is mysterious – online space is hardly at a premium but reporting is sketchy at best. The Ashes is the quadrennial moment that cricket steps into the centre of English sporting life, leading sports bulletins, and finding space on inky paper and on glowing screens. There appears to be no real appetite to put in the hard yards to capitalise on that opportunity as far as county cricket’s premier competition is concerned.

Liam Livingstone took over the captaincy of Lancashire and has transformed the side who can only draw in