ECB close to finalising home Test series sponsor

England cricket playing new zealand
The home Test series could have a confirmed new sponsor soon Credit: REUTERS

The England & Wales Cricket Board are close to finalising a sponsor its home Test series with high street opticians Specsavers set to replace Investec.

Specsavers are existing sponsors of the county championship and if the deal is agreed will replace Investec who stepped away from a £40m ten year deal last summer with three years left to run on their contract.

The ECB is understood to be in advanced talks with Specsavers and one other company with an announcement expected in time before the first Test of the summer next month at Lord’s against Pakistan.

The deal has taken much longer than expected. Investec announced in January last year they would be ending their deal with the ECB. Investec were angered the ECB agreed a contract with banking rivals NatWest to sponsor the England team shirts, believing it cut across their own deal. 

Naming rights to England’s Test series used to be one of the biggest prizes in sports sponsorship but with the advent of Twenty20, as well as the ECB’s announcement last week of a new competition entitled ‘The Hundred’ and the challenges facing the long form of the game it has lost its appeal to companies. 

The ECB will be desperate to find a recognisable consumer brand to back its new competition, one that resonates with young people and families rather than the usual cricket sponsorships with investment banks or insurance firms

cricket joe root
Joe Root has backed the new tournament Credit: AFP

Joe Root, the England Test captain, leant his backing to the new tournament yesterday although it has found a lot less support among county pros.

“It's going to appeal to a completely new audience, and I think that's great,” Root told the Sheffield Star.

“The more people and kids we can get into sport, the better. We've got to be very careful that we don't measure it against the other formats. It's something to gather a new audience and gain interest, not a threat to the other formats. As players, working with the ICC, we've got to make sure the other formats don't suffer but it has a place in the game, and hopefully we'll see that over time.”

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