Sport-locker.net are looking forward to this coming Bank Holiday weekend – mostly because it marks the beginning of the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 competition, as the road to the Lord’s final in September gets underway!

Got to love a bit of cricket in the sun…

To mark the occasion, players from last season’s winners Hampshire and runners-up Warwickshire have been reliving last year’s final – one of the most exciting in recent memory – for a new video. In a thrilling final ball finish at a packed-out Lord’s, the Bears’ run chase fell agonisingly short as Hampshire bowler Kabir Ali held his nerve to keep the scores level, ensuring his side took the trophy by virtue of fewer wickets lost.

This season’s competition begins on Friday evening as reigning champions Hampshire CCC open the 2013 edition at The Essex County Ground, Chelmsford against Essex CCC in a match televised live on Sky Sports.

The 18 English first-class counties plus Scotland, the Netherlands and the Unicorns are split into three groups, facing each other both home and away, with the three group winners qualifying for the semi-finals alongside the strongest runner-up from the groups combined. The competition then climaxes with a showpiece final on Saturday September 21 at Lord’s, the home of cricket, with fans hoping for as thrilling a finale as last summer.

For more information and to buy tickets visit: http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/domestic/yorkshire-bank-40/yorkshire-bank-40-format,2663,BP.html. Tickets for the final can be purchased at http://www.lords.org.   

What do you think of the video? Looking forward to the YB40 competition? Let us know in the comments section below or on our Twitter and Facebook pages.