South African board lands two-year sponsorship deal

MTN, a cell phone company, are the new event sponsors of international and domestic limited-overs cricket in South Africa after closing a two-year deal, believed to be worth more than six million Rand, with Cricket South Africa (CSA).

MTN were not involved with cricket sponsorship over the last year but have previously been co-sponsors, along with Castle Lager, of the Test team. Standard Bank, the former sponsors, decided to only sponsor the South African one-day team and not the competitions. "MTN have always been very special to cricket and after their joint Test sponsorship with Castle ended, they always said they'd like to get involved in one-day cricket. We had to find something for them," Gerald Majola, CSA chief executive, told Supercricket.co.za. "We feel really privileged. It was a very stiff bid and MTN had to beat the other international companies who were interested."

"Our investment will benefit both the professional as well as the amateur ranks. We have development plans to go and find many more Makhaya Ntini's. We believe there are many others who have not yet been found," said Maanda Manyatshe, the managing director of MTN South Africa. "We are really proud to be associated with cricket and we hope to live up to the expectations of the public. For us, sport is about passion and being involved with champions."