Tea company to sponsor Sri Lanka team?

The Sri Lanka cricket team is likely to be sponsored by a reputed local tea company with a big international market.

WSG Nimbus who have the commercial rights to negotiate sponsorships on behalf of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, is expected to finalise the deal by the end of the week.

Dilmah which belongs to MJF Exports Ltd are on the verge of being signed up by WSG Nimbus as the new sponsors for the next three years.

Cricket Board sources said the sponsorship figure is more than twice of what Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd, the former sponsors, put up. Singer, sponsored the national team for two three-year terms since 1995 for a figure of US$1.6 million. The present sponsorship is expected to exceed US$3.0 million.

Dilmah tea has a very big market in Australia and New Zealand and last month they moved into the UK. They also have sales in India.

They are Sri Lanka's biggest exporters of tea bags and concentrate more on the overseas market than at home.

The company was founded in 1974 by Merril J. Fernando, a pioneer in the tea industry in this country and has been exporting tea for the past 15 years.

"We made a strong bid for the sponsorship and we have been told by WSG that we are a very strong contender," said Dilmah's chief operations officer Imendra Ranaweera.

Singer's sponsorship with the national team terminated at the end of last month ending a six-year run during which period the country's international stocks rose sky high with the highlight being the World Cup win in 1996.

It was Singer who set the trend of team sponsorship for the national side six years ago. To a large extent they are responsible for boosting the morale of the side to attain the position it holds in world cricket today.