THE Rose Bowl's 2004 season is over. But Hampshire cricket will start preparing for next June's Twenty20 international in just a fortnight's time.

After learning valuable lessons during the hosting of five ICC Champions Trophy matches, planning will soon be under way for the first Twenty20 international, a pre-Ashes clash between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl on June 13, 2005

Hampshire will also be playing England in a 50-overs-a-side Natwest Series warm-up at the Rose Bowl on June 11.

But the international Twenty20 match is the next big test, and Hampshire are keen to show that the park and ride operation can run without hiccups.

Several fans were forced to walk from Hamble when too few buses were available for the ground's first ICC Champions Trophy match between India and Kenya.

And, when England's game against Sri Lanka went into a reserve day, they had to queue in the rain. But project manager Geoff Cox revealed that yesterday's semi-final was a smoother operation because more buses were put on standby.

And managing director Nick Pike, left, said: "When the England game finished early it really caught us by surprise - a lot of people got caught in the rain while they were queueing and clearly that was something we hadn't planned at all.

"Clearly that period when it was wet during the England game was particularly tough but we have to remember that we're a new ground and that we're learning as we go along.

"There are many, many positives out of this week. We've learnt some lessons but to hold six days of international cricket in such a short space of time makes me very proud of what the team have done here.

"The ECB have given us very positive feedback and a lot of people have come up and personally taken the trouble to thank me.

"I know they're really thanking the staff and that was really appreciated."

Police made three arrests during yesterday's ICC Champions Trophy semi-final after minor crowd disturbances broke out in the temporary stands as the West Indies cantered to a seven-wicket win against Pakistan.

The crowd of around 7,000 was not as big as was initially expected.

But many of the 11,000 tickets sold for yesterday's match were bought by Indians banking on a win against Pakistan during the round-robin pool stage.

Pike added: "The semi-final was another test for us with the early finish but it was particularly smooth.

"Once again, the stadium and the staff have coped really well and soon we'll start planning for a great weekend of cricket when England and Australia play their Twenty20 match here.

"We'll also have a Twenty20 curtain-raiser that day, which will hopefully involve at least one international side before the England v Australia match."