Press Release: Cook bats for Yorkshire Bank

England opener Alastair Cook will be hoping to hit the boundary six times at Edgbaston on Saturday – even though he is just a spectator.

Cook will be at Edgbaston for the Twenty20 Finals Day as a Yorkshire Bank guest, and if a team reaches 150 runs in any particular innings, he will present a randomly selected fan with a cheque for £150 on behalf of the bank.

The idea came from Clydesdale Bank’s sponsorship of Cook’s Ashes bat with useful benefits to sister bank Yorkshire. Yorkshire Bank are celebrating supporting local communities for over 150 years with its 150th anniversary in 2009.

Sussex take on Northamptonshire in the first semi-final on Saturday before Kent challenge Somerset. The final will follow shortly afterwards and should be a great climax to the Twenty20 Cup Competition.

Yorkshire Bank Regional Director Brian Colquhoun from the Birmingham Financial Solutions Centre, who will present the Yorkshire Bank Man of the Match award at the Final, said: “We thought it would be a fun idea, something to engage the crowd on finals day, and it shows our continuing support for cricket

“Hopefully Alastair will enjoy the break from Ashes duties. With all still to play for in the npower Ashes Series we are delighted that he is giving up his time to enhance such an occasion as the domestic Twenty20 Cup Final.

“Every time a team reaches 150, the camera will pan around the ground and focus on one unsuspecting fan. If a team does not reach 150 runs in any innings then we will use a hot seat competition format to choose a winner instead.

“The finals are gearing up to be an exciting day and this should make it a little more exciting for the fans!”

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