When I was One, I had just begun.

When I was Two, I was nearly new.

When I was Three, I was hardly me.

When I was Four, I was not much more.

When I was Five, I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever, So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever. - A.A. Milne

The ECB's baby has come a long way since the Twenty20 Cup was born, rather tempting fate, on Friday, June 13, 2003. What had been, in the words of Wisden, a “great experiment” has matured over six years into a popular tournament that is now shaping the game's economy. The prize-money, scandalously, may not have changed in six years, with Middlesex receiving the same cheque for £42,000 that Surrey got in 2003, but in all other respects the game has developed.

The noticeable thing about this season's competition is that it is now a game for clever cricketers. Not flash ones - though as the first semi-final between Kent and Essex wound to its conclusion on Saturday evening the cameras showed Middlesex's batsmen practising reverse sweeps and shovel shots before their match against Durham - but those who use their brain, play the right shot for the right occasion and, above all, master the basics, are the most successful.

The innings of Robert Key , the Kent captain, who made 20 in the semi-final and 52 in a losing cause in the final, were notable for their orthodoxy. The back-foot cut and front-foot drive were more rewarding than agricultural hoicks. Owais Shah, the man of the match for Middlesex after his 75 off 35 balls in the final, also played sensibly to help his team to 187, a total that Kent narrowly failed to chase.

Bowlers, likewise, have prospered when they have used their brains. Azhar Mahmood's slower ball is more deadly than the balls he bowls at 20mph faster. Middlesex's route to the final was based on the ability of Shaun Udal and Murali Kartik, the spinners, to keep the run-rate down.

Perhaps, though, it was clever fielding that made the difference. There were sloppy errors by Essex, not least when James Middlebrook threw the ball over his wicketkeeper's head for two runs, while Middlesex's errors in the final were almost terminal.

While individual and team scores have increased since 2003, the overall game is heading for equilibrium, with fielding sides becoming more canny at curtailing an innings. It is true that records have been broken this year for lop-sided victories, but there have also been several tight matches. The side batting second won four matches off the last ball. It is a far cry from the anticlimax of that first final when Surrey won with more than a quarter of the balls unbowled.