THREE years on from the inaugural Twenty20 finals day at Trent Bridge, the event returns to the ground today with an unchanged format but a markedly different feel. It has become the highlight of the domestic season and while fun remains an integral part of the overall package, the three games will be approached with the straightest of faces.

For Surrey Brown Caps and Leicestershire Foxes, the event has become an annual part of the fixture list, but Nottinghamshire Outlaws and Essex Eagles are competing in the semi- finals for the first time. With so many contrasts between the four, and strategies being refined all the time, it ought to make keen viewing.

The past two seasons have produced surprising outcomes, with Somerset, led by Graeme Smith, beating a Lancashire side including Andrew Flintoff in 2005, and Leicestershire decoding Adam Hollioake’s slower ball in the nick of time to overcome Surrey the year before.

This time, however, it is hard to look beyond Surrey, and not simply because all three previous finals have been won by the side involved in the later semi-final. They are on second against Nottinghamshire, who appear to be the weakest of the contenders even allowing for home advantage.

Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire director of cricket, has admitted that Surrey possess the best batting line-up, with a group of players who hit hard and straight from James Benning and Alistair Brown downwards. A total of 224 in the quarter-final win against Gloucestershire was their best in the competition.

That Nottinghamshire have been sending Gareth Clough — a handy one-day player but no more — for oxygen treatment to try to accelerate his recovery from a side strain shows how much the occasion means. Medium pace will be the staple of their bowling attack, with Paul Franks used as a specialist “death” bowler.

Surrey take a different approach. They will try to include three spin bowlers in Anil Kumble, Ian Salisbury and Nayan Doshi, whose father, Dilip, played for Nottinghamshire as an overseas player. Doshi Jr has taken 20 wickets in the competition this season, attributing his success to spin and flight.

The first semi-final is a closer call. Essex may be in uncharted territory today but they are formidable one-day practitioners. While Chelmsford has been identified as a cradle of cricket, with Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Varun Chopra just some of their emerging players, they also have experience in abundance.

Darren Gough and Andy Bichel as veteran new-ball bowlers could not differ more sharply from the Leicestershire pair of Adam Griffith, the Tasmanian in his first spell as an overseas player, and Stuart Broad, who is 15 years younger than Gough but now a serious rival for a place in the England one-day side.

Griffth and Broad are both around the 6ft 6in mark and if there is any pace at all in the pitch — which will be used for all three matches — then Ronnie Irani in particular will find it hard to execute his favourite front-foot shots into the leg side. The idea that Leicestershire bowl to contain is only half of the story.

Leicestershire also boast the man described on their own website as Mr Twenty20. He is otherwise known as Darren Maddy and with 1,004 runs overall — the only batsman so far in four figures — the moniker is easily explained. Whatever his difficulties in the four-day game, he remains prolific in this format.

“This is the most exciting day of the season,” Maddy said. “Even though many people will still look upon us as underdogs, I am confident we can win the Cup again. Twenty20 seems to suit the way we play and a significant reason for our success has been our good game plans.”

Those plans will be tweaked again today if Mansoor Amjad, the 18-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder, makes his first appearance in the competition in England. Even with eight Twenty20 matches behind him in Pakistan, he may find today’s experience, with its pop concert and sideshows, something of a culture shock.