da apostebet： The ECB has secured a major new sponsorship deal with the news that Royal London will become the chief sponsor of one-day cricket at international, county and recreational levels from 2014.
ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2013
Royal London will sponsor all levels of English one-day cricket•portraitcollective.com/Sam Bowles
The ECB has secured a major new sponsorship deal with the news that Royal London, the mutual life and pensions company, will become the chief sponsor of all one-day cricket at international, county and recreational levels from 2014.The announcement ends months of uncertainty about the securing of sponsorship for the 50-over game, especially at county level where it has been overshadowed by a relaunched Twenty20 tournament which will be played predominantly on Friday nights next season as a summer-long tournament.The ECB has been committed to simplifying its sponsorship structure in one-day cricket. That has now been achieved, with Royal London sponsoring England’s ODIs for men and women over the next four years; the county competition, which reverts from 40 to 50 overs next season; and a national club championship in which the top 256 clubs in the ECB’s official leagues will be invited to partake.There will also be a series of Royal London Junior County Cups, county-based, for boys and girls, from U-13 to U-17 levels.David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive, said: “Our commercial and broadcast deals provide the foundation and long-term stability for our investment in cricket from the playground to Test arena, and this deal is further proof of cricket’s popularity in England and Wales.”The public’s appetite for one-day cricket remains extremely high with international sell-outs every summer and the recent success of the ICC Champions Trophy is also testament to the format’s strength.”The deal signals the end of a relationship stretching back to 2005 with the previous county one-day sponsors, Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank.NatWest, which has been a major partner for one-day international cricket since 2000, will continue as the sponsor of all T20 cricket in England. Test cricket is backed by Investec and LV= sponsors the County Championship.