“The cricket has been spectacular.”

Those are the words of Sathya Prakash Timmaraju who was talking about the ever-popular Cheltenham Premier T20, which is now in its second season.

The group stages will conclude before the end of June and, just past the halfway stage, there are a couple of familiar names at the top of the leaderboard.

Last season’s finalists – Hatherley Hurricanes and Dumbleton Dynamite – are unbeaten in this year’s seven-team competition and they meet at Hatherley tomorrow evening (6pm).

Both teams, who have seven points from four games, will be looking to make a statement in what could be the first of two meetings between the two sides in the space of just a few weeks.

“The top two will meet in the play-offs with the winners going through to the final,” explained Prakash, who is the driving force behind the competition.

“The teams who finish third and fourth will also play-off with the winners of that game playing the losers of the game between first and second to determine the second finalists.”

The final will take place at the Victoria Ground on Tuesday 16^th July with Tuesday 23^rd July set aside as a reserve day.

And the final, which was won last season by Hatherley, should be another special occasion if this year’s games are anything to go by.

“There have been plenty of runs, wickets, thrills and spills,” said Prakash. “The cricket has been really good, we’ve had two tied games.”

Dumbleton, and more specifically Thomas Kelly, have been leading the way in terms of runs scored, scoring 221-5 against Charlton Super Kings and 194-9 against Tewkesbury Royals last month.

South Australian Kelly smashed three centuries in his opening three games and his potential match-up against Hatherley’s quick bowler Tom Hage tomorrow is sure to be one of the competition’s highlights.

Meanwhile, third-placed Cheltenham Spartans, for whom Prakash plays, are without a fixture this week – their final two group games are against Hatherley on Tuesday 18^th June and then free-scoring Dumbleton a week later.

“I’m looking forward to bowling against Tom Kelly,” said Prakash, who describes himself as a “dibbly-dobbler medium-pacer”.

Tomorrow evening’s fixtures: Hatherley Hurricanes v Dumbleton Dynamite, Charlton Super Kings v Tewkesbury Royals, Civi Sixers v University of Gloucestershire Giants.