The Tata IPL, Benson and Hedges Night Series and 5 other iconic cricket sponsorships
Cricket South Africa (CSA) recently announced that Castle had come on board as a sponsor for South Africa’s Test World Championship team when they go up against Australia in the final at Lord’s.
It is on the back of this renewed sponsorship of the South Africa Men’s Cricket team by Castle that Cricket 365 takes a trip down memory lane.
We look at some of the most memorable brand sponsorship relationships between cricket and the corporate world.
1. Benson and Hedges
The cigarette company fueled cricket from the early 1970s through to the mid-90s. They had naming rights for Australia’s home Tests and most of the ODI tournaments held in Australia, including the World Series Cup, the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 and the 1992 World Cup.
Benson and Hedges also domestic leagues, memorably the English County One-Day Cup. They also kept cricket alive in South Africa with the Benson and Hedges Night Series.
2. John Player
Cricket has always had an interesting relationship with cigarette companies. They were probably the first industry to realise that they could reach a wide audience and have a lot of airtime talking to that audience through the sport.
Before Benson and Hedges came on the table, there was John Player. The tobacco and cigarette manufacturer sponsored the John Player Sunday League for English county clubs between 1969 to 1987. This was one of the longest runs of sponsorship by a single company.
The John Player Sunday League played a huge role in the development of limited-overs cricket as we know it today.
3. Prudential
Prudential did for England what Benson and Hedges did for Australia. They had the Prudential Trophy, the name for all one-day internationals played in England between 1972 and 1982, the Prudential Trophy.
In that period, they sponsored 14 tours that saw India, Pakistan, West Indies, Australia, and New Zealand compete against the England cricket team.
They also sponsored the 1975, 1979, and 1983 World Cups
4. Sahara India Pariwar
People of a certain vintage will remember this: when Sachin Tendulkar walked out to bat in whites, you expected to see Sourav Ganguly take guard at the other end. They will also remember both batters wearing jerseys with one word in the front: Sahara.
The conglomerate sponsored the India national team from 2001 to 2013. They seemed to be India’s lucky charm, because that was also India’s most fruitful decade in terms of titles.
During this time, they won the Champions Trophy in 2002 and 2013, the ICC World T20 Trophy in 2007, the Asia Cup in 2010, and the ODI World Cup in 2011.
5. Castle Lager
Between 1992 and 2021, the Proteas shirt looked odd to most fans who followed the game from South Africa’s return to international cricket in 1992. Many were used to seeing the red lettering on the front of the Proteas’ Test shirts.
The brand went from the front of the shirt to the sleeve in 2015, when Standard Bank came on board.
Castle’s relationship with Cricket South Africa collapsed in 2021 after their contract lapsed.
Corruption by CSA’s previous administration did not help the relationship. SAB, Castle’s parent company, has rekindled the relationship with CSA by sponsoring a series of tours over the last four years.
6. Dilmah
Who can forget Kumar Sangakkara performing heroics behind the stumps in Sri Lanka’s blue Dilmah-sponsored limited-overs strip?
Between 2001 and 2008, one couldn’t think of Sri Lanka’s cricket team without thinking of Dilmah. It was probably the most perfect union. As Ian Healy once said, “A game with so many tea breaks in it deserves a Dilmah. It makes perfect sense!”
7. Tata
The IPL has had six different sponsors since its first season; however, only one rolls off the tongue nicely. This might be a case of recency bias, but not many can remember the DLF IPL, the PepsiCo IPL, the Vivo IPL, or the Dream11 IPL.
Everyone remembers the Tata IPL, though. The title name has become so iconic that it feels like the car manufacturer has been sponsoring the tournament since its inception.
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