After 350 years, cricket is rebranded (with the help of Elvis and jacuzzis)

In Worcester, the Jacuzzi was bubbling pitchside. In Southampton, the pop group Mis-Teeq were warming up and in London the rebranded all-singing, all-action new form of "funky cricket" began with the gentlest of defensive shots that rolled the ball a couple of yards down the wicket. Razzamatazz, cricket style, is upon us.

At teatime yesterday, after painstaking market research and a bizarre launch involving an Elvis impersonator, the 350-year-old national game finally emerged from its makeover as the new sport of youth.

The sudden burst of pop culture marked the start of the first new cricket competition for 30 years. Its launch, to the sound of grumbling from the old guard, comes amid concerns that if spectator numbers continue to dwindle, the sport - on a par with football in the post-war period - may soon be of niche interest.

The vision behind the "Twenty20" competition among the 18 professional county sides over the next two weeks is clear: to create a new audience for the game before the old one dies off.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) devised the 20-overs per side evening tournament after market research told them that the game needed more young people, women and families.

Their answer is a competition which starts towards the end of the working day at 5.30pm and provides a result in just over three hours, in time to get the children home to bed. Although the centuries-old rules are unchanged the ECB has speeded up the game by introducing pitchside dugouts and penalising batsmen who fail to get to the wicket within 90 seconds. Long lunches of foaming ale and cucumber sandwiches have been replaced by a 15-minute interval to change a sweaty shirt and gulp down an isotonic drink.

John Crawley, the Hampshire Hawks captain, who led his side out to a capacity 9,000-crowd at Southampton against the Sussex Sharks last night, said the tournament would create a legacy for the game. "Twenty20 is a great chance for players to bring the game to a wider audience. We won't be putting off any of the hardcore fans but we will be playing in front of a younger and more diverse crowd. It's not primarily about creating a national team for the future but boosting involvement in the game" he said.

The media too have their part to play in bringing to a wider audience a game which is now perceived - especially among the young - as too slow and dictated by arcane rules.

Amid rumblings of discontent from some traditionalists, Sky, Channel 4 and BBC Five Live have been given unprecedented access to players as part of the mission to explain and entertain. A player from each side - preferably the batsman and bowler in the thick of action - are linked to the Sky commentary box by a miniature microphone, delivering their thoughts to the armchair fan. Both Sky and Five Live will be able to quiz umpires between overs on controversial decisions, an innovation that has led some to question whether the media are simply reporting the game or influencing how it is played.

The degree of access can be explained by the fact that 80 per cent of the ECB's annual income of £64m comes from deals with Sky and Channel 4.

"We don't have the funds to do any of our own independent television advertising so to an extent we do rely on the help of the national broadcasters," said the ECB's media manager Mark Hodgson.

Fans can be forgiven for thinking that they have heard before about the dawn of a new era. Floodlit cricket cannot work because the lights - a permanent fixture at only two grounds - cost £25,000 per game. The one-day National League has been jazzed up with white balls, garish pyjama-style clothing and new names - but even the ECB can't remember how many guises it has had since it was launched as the John Player league in 1969.

Whether or not Twenty20 proves a hit - and last night's perfect summer weather can have done no harm - the message is clear that cricket is finally hitting back both against other sports and the leisure industry as a whole.

Football has benefited from multi-channel television and the global appeal of the Premiership which can attract almost as many spectators - around 500,000 in a good weekend - as the midweek county cricket championship gets in an entire season. To make matters worse the fixture list for rugby and especially football has been extended for commercial reasons to early June and starts again in mid August.

An estimated 10,000 people, including suited bankers and young families, arrived for the start of last night's game at The Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club, in south London, (with a newly designated "karaoke corner" for the occasion).

After the unpromising dead-batted first ball, the crowd were rewarded with the first fallen wicket within five minutes. Middlesex Crusaders' Paul Weekes walking off to the tinny sound of Freddie Mercury chanting "Another One Bites The Dust".

The sunshine, publicity and evening starts appeared to be paying early dividends with crowds around four times the size normally expected for a weekday county match hosted by the country's most successful team. Sat in the Laker Stand, the O'Dwyer family could have been a case study lifted from the marketing brochure of the ECB. Public sector workers Matt O'Dwyer and his wife, Joanna, had made use of flexitime to travel across the city from Cricklewood, in north-west London, with their daughters, Orla, six, and Cathy, nine. "We took them to the World Cup at Lord's five years ago but this is the first time since then," said Mr O'Dwyer.

"The game is going to be quick and exciting because there will be more risk-taking by the batsmen. It's great for the children because you don't need to concentrate for as long and they won't get too tired.''

Surrey Country Cricket Club did without the razzamatazz of some of the other grounds hosting games last night but were still delighted with the crowds.

According to the ECB's market research, consisting of 4,000 interviews in the winter of 2001, around one in three potential cricket supporters are turned off because the game takes too long. Mark Hodgson, media manager of the ECB, said: "The shortest form of the game in this country until now has been the National League which last on average six hours and 10 minutes. That is a long time for people to commit."