Yuvraj Singh, happy to have the sun on his back and relieved to be rid of the head cold which had made him feel below par during his first few weeks in England, has been Yorkshire's star performer in the Twenty20 Cup competition.

If only more of his teammates had shown the same consistency and flair for the new tournament, then Yorkshire would by now be sure of a place in the finals at Trent Bridge on July 19 instead of almost certainly missing out.

Had Yorkshire gone all the way, however, then Yuvraj would have been among the favourites to scoop the £1,500 offered in prizemoney for the batsman who flogs the most fours and sixes. Already he has plundered 26 fours and two sixes in four matches which means that 116 of his 150 runs have come in boundaries.

The high ratio of fours to sixes fairly indicates that Yuvraj prefers powerful orthodox strokeplay rather than trying to hit the cover off the ball.

When Yuvraj came to Yorkshire a month ago as replacement for Australian Matthew Elliott, who had returned home for a combination of personal reasons and injury, the 21-year-old Indian was unable to get into his stride until the start of the Twenty20 campaign.

Feeling unwell probably lengthened the time in took him to adapt to English conditions again but it was obvious from his first innings that Yuvraj was a class player and that he would come good soon.

Although not a household name when he joined Yorkshire, Yuvraj was familiar to those who had followed India's progress in the World Cup - and to those who had been fortunate enough to see his dazzling innings in last year's NatWest Series final between England and India at Lord's.

Wisden states that this match "was one of the most thrillingly topsy-turvy limited-overs internationals ever played" and it was young Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif, just one year his senior, who made it such. They came together at 146 for five with India chasing 326 and their 121 alliance in under 18 overs set up their country for a thrilling two wicket victory with three balls to spare.

Yuvraj has shown that he can compete regularly with the best in one-day cricket, now both he and Yorkshire want him to do the same in the Championship, starting with the game against Somerset at Taunton on Friday.

From Yorkshire's point of view they need Yuvraj and New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming to shake the rest of the team into performing well enough to halt the slide down the Second Division table and make sure that the objective is achieved of gaining promotion at the first time of asking.

Yuvraj also wants that to happen, of course, but the personal reason why he has decided to play county cricket is to give him the experience he needs to become a top Indian Test batsman.

Despite his tender years, Yuvraj had already played in 73 one-day internationals but has yet to make his Test debut. Sachin Tendulkar, the Tykes' first overseas player in 1992, advised Yuvraj to join Yorkshire "because they will look after you there." And no young Indian standing on the threshold of a Test career ignores advice when it comes from that particular quarter.

Whatever the traditionalist diehards of county cricket may think, the 20Twenty Cup competition is proving a spectacular success - partly because of the glorious weather - and is here to stay.

You just can't argue against it when crowds of over 14,000 turn up to watch the Roses game at Old Trafford and 9,000 plus for Yorkshire's clash with Durham at Headingley.

It seems as if Yorkshire's marketing department erred too greatly on the side of caution when ticket sales were slow to take off before the series began and they slashed adult prices from £10 to £2 for all three home matches.

Such has been the interest in the competition they would almost certainly have maintained gate levels for the Derbyshire and Durham games if they had charged a fiver a head.

The original price was clearly too high and the revised one too low. It is not a mistake they are likely to make again next year.