Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club are celebrating today because Trent Bridge has been named as the third venue - joining Lord’s and The Oval - for next year’s ICC World Twenty20.

A number of other venues also bid to host matches in the prestigious event, but the England & Wales Cricket Board yesterday informed the International Cricket Council that Trent Bridge has been successful.

“We are absolutely delighted,” said Notts Chief Executive Derek Brewer(pictured): “It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase English cricket to the rest of the world and is brilliant news for the whole of the city, county and region.

“As a club, we are very grateful for the support we received from public and private sector partners in making the bid and we would not have been successful without the extensive development work that has taken place at Trent Bridge this winter.

“That work has only been possible because of the support of East Midlands Development Agency, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council, and I’m sure our partners share our pleasure at the news.

“The economic benefits to the region will be incredible and we are delighted that our partners will see such an early pay-back for the faith they showed when investing in our ground developments.”

All ICC World Twenty20 matches will take place at the three appointed venues - and Trent Bridge will become the centre of the sporting world over two weeks in June 2009.

The schedule of matches has yet to be finalised but Notts will host three warm-up days, one of which involves two back-to-back matches, and then group games on Saturday June 6, and double-headers on Monday June 8 and Wednesday June 10.

In the Super 8s stage there are double-headers on Thursday June 11 and Tuesday June 16.

The inaugural women’s event reaches the semi-final stage on Thursday June 18, when one of these games will be staged at Trent Bridge – followed immediately by one of the men’s semi-finals.

Added Brewer: “It’s a measure of the popularity of the competition that one billion people watched the final of the World Twenty20 in South Africa last year. It’s a truly global event and we confidently expect that the semi-final from Trent Bridge will be played before an audience of 500 million people around the world.”

Steve Elworthy, the Tournament Director of ICC World Twenty20 said: “I know that there were some extremely competitive bids from all grounds who wanted to be part of this exciting event.

“I am delighted that Trent Bridge joins Lord’s and The Oval as a venue. It gives the tournament a good geographical spread without being logistically challenging for the players and officials.”

Said Jeff Moore, emda Chief Executive: “emda invested in the redevelopment of Trent Bridge to help the ground maintain and grow its status as a world-class venue for cricket and other sports. The World Twenty20 is the first return on our investment and I am delighted Nottingham will be hosting matches in this prestigious tournament. The competition brings not only world-class athletes to the region but also press and visitors from all over the world.

“emda was able to provide a significant financial contribution to enable Trent Bridge to win their bid and that is in recognition of the extremely high profile of the event, and the associated spend it will generate in the local economy.”