And so it begins...

Loud music, scantily glad babes in hot tubs and plenty of fireworks

But enough of everyday life in my house, the 20/20 starts tomorrow. OK, we all know it started today for most teams, but it REALLY starts tomorrow with Derbyshire's first game against arguably the country's finest team in Durham.

Will we win? Probably not, but we could. If this team really believed in its ability they could post big totals. Is there a better top four in the country than Rogers, Smith, Law and Hinds? Not many, but the trick is for these guys all to fire at the same time and then have their efforts backed up by the supporting cast.

There will be great interest in Stuart Law's airing of the Mongoose, his mini bat designed with this competition in mind. If my Dad had only realised that this was the future of the game, all those years ago when he sawed down a Harrow bat for my then vertically challenged self, we'd have been living as tax exiles by now. I'd also be bankrolling the club like Roman Abramovich as we played like the Harlem Globetrotters.

Having had to revise my previous suggested side in the light of injuries, I would expect us to line up as follows tomorrow:

Chris Rogers
Greg Smith
Stuart Law
Wavell Hinds
James Pipe
Graham Wagg
Tim Groenewald
Garry Park
Dan Redfern
Mark Lawson/Jake Needham
Ian Hunter

Given that the Riverside is usually a seamer's track I would think it unlikely we would play both spinners here. Given that Dan Redfern and Greg Smith (plus Waggy of course) can bowl spin if required we have guys around who can take the pace off the ball. Wavell has yet to turn his arm over this season and he may also feature if we need an over here and there.

It is a fixture that sees Garry Park and Ian Hunter return to play their old county, while both Michael di Venuto and Ian Blackwell rarely miss a chance to show us what they can do. Durham made incredibly heavy work of beating Notts today, taking until the last ball when they started the final over needing only one run.

IF we bowl with discipline, field as well as we generally have this season and bat with common sense, we cannot be written off. There is enough talent in this Derbyshire side, even sans Langeveldt, to win matches. I still maintain that if one batsman plays through the 20 overs and the rest bat around him that you will win a good share of these matches. 140 is a challenging score on a decent size ground and anything over 150 needs one or two of the opposition to get going.

Though not a fan of the format, I'll be following the matches and hoping for a Derbyshire win. Not just tomorrow but over the next two or three weeks. If we can emerge from the competition with our heads held high and a few victories I'll take that.