The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced a three-year partnership with LV=General Insurance across all international and county-level competitive cricket.
Under the terms of the agreement, which lasts until the end of 2023, LV=GI will be the title sponsor of the LV= Insurance Test Series between England and India in August and September.
The company will also sponsor the LV= Insurance County Championship , set to start on 8 April featuring 18 First-Class County cricket teams.
LV was previously the sponsor of the County Championship from 2007 to 2015, before being replaced by Specsavers. When the deal with Specsavers expired at the end of the 2019 season, the ECB was left without a sponsor for the entirety of 2020.
England men’s Test captain Joe Root commented: “LV= has been a strong ally of cricket for as long as I can remember and it is great to have them back as a partner.
“From a personal point of view when I was starting out in county cricket I was lucky enough to be awarded the 2012 LV= Breakthrough Player of the Year, which was made even more significant because LV= donated money to my home club in Sheffield as well as the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.”
The recent agreement is an expansion of the ECB and LV’s cooperation on the Funds4Runs initiative in 2020, which saw the pair channel over £1 million into supporting domestic grassroots cricket, which has suffered due to the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Areas of particular focus were children from deprived backgrounds, diverse communities, disability groups and women’s and girls’ programmes.
“It’s great to be able to welcome back LV= to the cricket family,” said Heather Knight, Captain of the England women’s team. “The next few years promise to be an exciting time for women’s cricket and to have a partner such as LV= who are committed to investing in all areas of the game is great news.”
Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, added: “LV= has a long and proud history of supporting cricket and their return as a partner will benefit all levels of our game. The strength of our partnerships are vital and in LV= I know we have a partner that shares our ambition to support the growth of cricket from grassroots to our England teams.
“Today’s announcement is great news for domestic and international cricket and builds on the £1million #Funds4Fund community initiative that we have jointly made with LV= to support areas of the recreational game hardest hit by Covid-19.”
The ECB plans to host matches behind closed doors during the upcoming 2021 season. However, tickets have gone on sale for the summer’s Test series between England and India, which will be hosted at Lord’s, Trent Bridge, Headingley, the Oval and Old Trafford.
