THE much-heralded birth of the Twenty20 Cup, English cricket's newest competition in 30 years, arrived at the Rose Bowl on Friday evening promising "twice the action; half the time".

Hampshire's lovely ground was the setting for the inaugural evening of a revolutionary format combining fast cricket, live music and on-site fun.

It's a formula that the English Cricket Board hoped would attract a new audience to domestic cricket. There's something for everyone you see.

A near capacity crowd of 8,500 indicated the British public were willing to buy into the concept, much to the delight of ECB chief executive Tim Lamb, and Nick Pike, managing director of the Rose Bowl.

Cricket virgins, families, members and regular fans piled in to watch the Hampshire Hawks beat the Sussex Sharks by five runs in their 20-over-per-side match.

And, once the cricket was over, the youngsters were allowed to clamber onto the pitch for the pop concert to yell at headline performers, UK garage trio Mis-Teeq.

Sounds like a great night, doesn't it?

However, on the whole it ended up falling between two stools.

Speeding up the game - players had just 90 seconds to rush to the crease upon a wicket, and a time limit of 75 minutes for each innings - succeeded only in creating a blink-and-you'll-miss-it slog-feast.

Indeed, the only time there were any pauses was when the third umpire was called upon. At least he didn't have to work to a tight schedule.

Even worse was the introduction of the Americanisms that simply do not belong in cricket - the music that blared out to greet the fall of wickets and also the arrival of the batsmen.

Not to mention the public address announcer urging people to "make some noise".

Please. Leave that at ice hockey, baseball arenas or to Judge Jules. In fact, the whole evening reeked of the need to capture an audience through gimmicks and no substance.

Heaven knows what seasoned professionals and Test cricketers, like the legendary Pakistani Wasim Akram, made of it all, even if he did hit the first-ever six of the competition.

To the players' credit, they tried to make it as exciting as possible, with some flashing strokes, varied bowling and fine fielding.

Sussex's Chris Adams won the toss and chose to insert the Hawks.

James Hamblin and Derek Kenway set up an opening stand of 66 in seven overs before Hamblin was bowled off Jason Lewry's first delivery. He had struck seven fours in his 27 balls stay.

Kenway continued the good work, but Hampshire by this stage were losing wickets at a steady pace, stifling their ability to score runs quickly.

Twenty not out from captain John Crawley enabled the home side to reach the 150 mark, and they finished 153 all-out with two balls remaining.

Mark Davis was the pick of the Sussex bowlers, his three overs costing just 13 runs and securing three wickets.

Sussex's reply started shakily, with Prior, Goodwin and skipper Adams all dismissed for 27 runs.

Bas Zuiderent and Robin Martin-Jenkins rallied, and then wicket-keeper Tim Ambrose brought the game to an exciting close that just about caught the interest of the children present.

Ambrose scored 54 not out, including seven fours and one six, in just 39 balls, as the Sharks were left needing 10 to win in the last over.

With Wasim Akram, Shaun Udal and Alan Mullally all bowled out, it was left to the new Hampshire boy, Ed Giddins, to close out the game.

Ambrose played and missed with the first ball, took a single with his second and then saw Mushtaq bowled with the third.

Davis and Ambrose shared a single each, by which time, barring a no ball or a wide, the Hawks would open with a victory.

A loud cheer greeted the win, but then came the confirmation of the divide that had been evident throughout the evening.

The match over, Hampshire members left in their droves, while the children finally found their enthusiasm and shrugged off their previous few hours of boredom to look forward to the concert.

And that sums up the Twenty20. Yes, the ECB should be applauded for trying to improve interest in and support of domestic cricket.

But when the game's traditions are compromised, and the evening tries to be all things to all people, it doesn't work.

Something for everyone? Not really. In fact, a parallel can be drawn. Twenty20 is like the fast-food served by the vans inside the ground.

An instant fix but, on the whole, lacking substance, satisfaction and long-term benefit.