YORKSHIRE have closed their ears to those who pour scorn on the new Twenty20 Cup competition and today were putting the final touches to a strategy which they hope will see them win the final at Trent Bridge in July.

A combination of wanting to restore damaged pride and scooping the £42,000 on offer for the Cup winners has resulted in head coach Kevin Sharp insisting on his team taking the competition very seriously indeed.

The top prize is £12,000 more than Yorkshire would land from finishing top of the Second Division of the Frizzell County Championship - now a forlorn hope - and only £1,000 below what the winners of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy will receive.

It was originally intended that the winners of the Twenty20 Cup would rake in £52,000 but the ECB have lowered the prize by £10,000 because of financial restraints brought about by England not playing in Zimbabwe in the World Cup. Other prize-money in county cricket competitions has been similarly affected.

Yorkshire were today going through a Twenty20 dress rehearsal at Headingley ahead of tomorrow's opening match against Derbyshire at the same venue.

Sharp dismissed suggestions that the Twenty20 Cup was merely a 'crash, bang, wallop' tournament with very little skill and of little interest to regular cricket fans.

"Just because it is only 20 overs a side does not mean there is no room for experienced players or no time to exercise some care while batting," said Sharp.

"We had a dummy run in April and the team going in second found themselves at 10-6 chasing a 120 target. This was because they had tried to slog the ball around and had got out. The remaining batsmen then had to play sensible cricket and in the end they managed 110.

"I am obviously very anxious that our run of poor form should come to an end as quickly as possible and that is another reason why we are taking the Twenty20 Cup so seriously.

"There is no comfort zone for us at the moment and we want to win every game we play, it is as simple as that. We are in no position to experiment and we will be putting out our strongest possible team tomorrow."

It now seems certain that New Zealand captain, Stephen Fleming, will be a part of that team.

Yorkshire have completed all the paperwork necessary for signing him and he was due to arrive at Headingley today.

The only disappointment is that Fleming is only available until the beginning of September which means he will miss Yorkshire's last three Championship matches and the results of these could determine whether they gain promotion or miss out.

Updated: 11:10 Friday, June 13, 2003