Vodafone disconnects with English cricket

Vodafone has announced it will not be renewing its sponsorship of English cricket when the current four-year deal ends in January 2010.

The decision not to renew the 12-year sponsorship comes as part of a more general review of its operations. It is rumoured that it will be taking a similar decision regarding its involvement in football's Champions League. The contract will remain for next summer's Ashes series and finishes after England's tour of South Africa in 2009-10.

The news, while not unexpected, will leave the ECB searching for a replacement at a time most companies are cutting back on such deals. The board will also be sweating over the renewal of the deals with the two other main sponsors, Npower and NatWest, which are due to end next year. The two companies sponsor the home Test and ODI series respectively.

There was more bad news for the ECB on Wednesday, when Sport England announced a pot of £37.8 million as cricket's central funding for the next four years. That was the single largest grant given to any sports body but the ECB's chief executive, David Collier, told The Times he saw it as a slashing of one-third because of a reclassification of funding criteria.

It is expected that the ECB-backed Chance to Shine scheme, which aims to raise £50 million over 10 years, will be affected.