Booker to sponsor umpires

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced that Booker, Britain's largest cash and carry company, will sponsor both the International and County Cricket umpires for the current cricket season. The sponsorship will be under the Happy Shopper brand, the figurehead of Booker's highly successful own label range for independent retailers.

The agreement relates to sponsorship of umpires for all international matches in the UK this summer as well as the 33 umpires on the ECB Umpires' Panel - now known as the Happy Shopper Umpires' Panel.

The one-year agreement includes branding on umpires' clothing and on a new third umpire traffic light unit to be used for all televised matches this summer.

Terry Blake, the ECB's Marketing Director, said "We are delighted to welcome Booker as a new sponsor to cricket. This season, we have more televised cricket than ever before. Combined with the expanded international schedule, we are confident that Booker will get significant exposure, to help them build awareness of the Happy Shopper brand."

Booker's chief executive, Stuart Rose, said, "Despite our ownership of the Booker prize, surprisingly little is known about the company outside of the independent retail and catering trades. This link with cricket will help raise our profile with consumers themselves, which can only be good news for our retail customers."