THE hype surrounding the Barclaycard Premiership has grown to such an extent that it's been to the detriment of other sports.

That's the view of Daily Echo business in sport columnist Peter Sharkey, who said: "What doesn't help cricket much is the constant saturation given in the media to Premiership football.

"I'm a fanatical football fan but at the moment I couldn't care less about it. Here we are in June and the fixtures for next season have come out already! I don't want to know.

"That's why something like the Twenty20 Cup is so great for cricket - it gets kids coming along to grounds like the Rose Bowl, and it's fantastic entertainment. It's also cheap entertainment. Take two kids to a Premiership match at somewhere like St Mary's and, with food and programmes thrown in, you'd struggle to get change from £70.

"With the Twenty20 Cup, you have something with a bit of creativity of thought that isn't that prevalent in the football industry.

"Cricket needs to be bringing new fans in, it needs to be doing something different. The idea of games starting after school and work at 5.30pm is an absolute winner, and if that's what it takes to get more people going to cricket then so be it.

"There are so many leisure activities around these days, particularly when you have children, and it's great to offer them alternatives like the Twenty20 Cup."