The newest, most exciting form of cricket is coming to Somerset, starting tomorrow night.

That?s when the club showcase their new 20-20 cricket tournament, featuring six teams vying for a top prize of $500 and a trophy.

Team coach and club official Winston Reid said the five-week event is designed to keep some excitement in cricket as the season draws to a close.

?We thought that with the league decided and the season coming to an end, we should do something because there?s nothing left for a lot of the teams besides the Knockout competition,? explained the former national player.

?We thought it would be best to do it after Cup Match so there would be some interest left in cricket. We?ve had a lot of response from clubs. More of them wanted to participate but we thought it would be too long a competition and cut into the football season.

?If things work out okay, we can probably start earlier next year and include more teams.?

Group A is comprised of LegTrappers, Southampton Rangers and Warwick while Somerset, the Jamaican Association and the Brangman XI ? made up of the Brangman family from Devonshire Rec ? are in Group B.

Round-robin matches will be played in each group with the top two teams advancing to the semi-finals on September 2 and the winners clashing for the title on September 9.

Two back-to-back preliminaries will be played for the next three Fridays beginning at 6 p.m. Tomorrow?s first fixture pits LegTrappers against Southampton Rangers followed by Somerset against the Brangman XI.

?We are not using the full 20-20 rules because we don?t want to confuse people with all those special changes. So we will play 20 overs with the normal One-Day regulations. The only difference is that in the event of a tie we want to have a bowl-off ? just like in 20-20 ? and who hits the stumps the most (times) will win,? disclosed Reid, adding that coloured clothing, white balls and guest players will also feature in the tournament.

There will also be monetary Man-of-the-Match incentives: $50 for the preliminaries; $100 for the semi-finals and $150 for the final. A $5 entrance fee is being charged to offset the cost of floodlights.

Depending on the success of this inaugural competition, next year could see the introduction of the authentic 20-20 format with all its peculiarities. This year, however, is simply a fun trial.

?The guys can go out there and enjoy themselves. It?s really exciting cricket,? declared 52-year-old Reid who anticipates ?taking a game? himself. ?I can still run around for 20 overs.?

Offering a glimpse of just how thrilling 20-20 cricket can be, he revealed that Somerset lost a pre-Cup Match fixture against LegTrappers despite clobbering 173 runs. The latter romped home with three or four overs to spare.