I AM GETTING excited! The T20 is coming to a venue near you.

On Sunday (June 5), the match is at Bristol (2.30pm) but especially exciting for us mid-Cotswold dwellers are the two matches at Gloucester on June 10 and 11.

These games give us a chance to see the leading test wicket taker of all time, Muralitharan, in action.

I love the T20. The ECB think they invented it. What rubbish! Many of you reading this, play or have played it.

It was, and is, the cricket of weekday evenings - the cricket of evening leagues and knockout competitions, of staff matches, of school matches; it is part of our heritage.

My cricket career allowed me to play at Lord’s and at Edgbaston, yet my most joyous memories are of the Oaksey Bowl, playing Cherington (now linked with Avening), or Coates, Ampney Crucis or Bibury.

Playing against Frank Ind of Cherington or Tony Frape of Coates put any academic battles I faced into in perspective.

Some of you will scorn the T20. It is just bish-bash basic slogging, you will say. More rubbish. In fact, it is a display of concentrated cricket skills.

Watch Chris Taylor’s fielding. Look at Kane Williamson’s stroke play. See our young bowlers striving on every delivery to keep the runs down and take wickets. Keep your eyes on the game - one over can win or lose it. Captain Alex Gidman will never be set a more demanding task than organising his team during the game.

But above all - make a noise! The players want to know you are there! They relish spirited vocal support, and respond to it. Give them some.

One Light longshot - Chris Dent may keep wicket in the T20 competition. I can assure you this has been discussed at Bristol as has the wicket keeping position for every competition.

The almost run-less Jon Batty is not playing against Essex. Richard Coughtrie is keeping wicket.

Chris Dent returned to the team for this match, warming up with 76 for Thornbury on Saturday, and easing himself back into county cricket at No 7.

As usual, he was a delight to watch but left us wanting more. The cricket against Essex has been mixed. Kiwi Kane Williamson scored a fluent 50, but the ‘Gidmen’ (a new collective noun to describe the Gidman brothers) contributed little.

Ed Young was our saviour, scoring his first championship 50 and guiding the tail in achieving two unlikely batting bonus points.

Ed also impressed in the CB40 match at Nottingham. He was the best bowler and led the exciting run chase. Our batting was so much better than our bowling and fielding. Sloppy describes our out cricket. Not my word - but that of captain Alex.

This CB40 match may have passed you by. Because of early deadlines our local daily papers did not cover it the next day. Stick with us for the latest news!

I was able to watch it on TV and was joined by Mrs Light. They have scored 50 runs too many, she said after the Notts innings. We lost by 48.

I also watched the Test on TV. Oh dear! Yes, we won, magnificently in the end but watching our batting was a dire experience.

There were so many empty seats in the stadium, and this must be a warning.

Batting as Trott does will not halt the declining interest in Test cricket.

Do you agree with John? Have your say below.