VB Series loses naming sponsor

Australia's annual tri-series could be in line for a change of format after it lost its naming-rights sponsor. The tournament has been called the VB Series for the past five years but Cricket Australia today announced the company Foster's Australia would not be supporting the contest next summer.

Despite giving up the naming rights, the brewing company has extended its involvement with CA until 2011. The tri-series has run for 27 years and the format of up to eight group games for each team before a best-of-three finals series has become outdated. James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, said the organisation was considering ways to update the concept.

"We don't want to stand still, we want to continue to adapt our products and the things we do with cricket in such a way that we meet our consumers' demands," Sutherland told AAP. "That's something we're always thinking about, the tri-series might take different forms. We've tried the Chappell-Hadlee Series [against New Zealand] as an extension or a part of the tri-series and that's something we may do a little bit more of in the future."

England and India are scheduled for Test and one-day tours in the next two seasons and Sutherland is confident of finding a series sponsor. "It was borne out of World Series Cricket and it's almost an institution in world cricket," Sutherland said. "From that point of view everyone understands and knows very well what a big event it is."