Cricket Australia (CA) has renewed and upgraded its ongoing sponsorship deals with long-standing partners Toyota and HCLTech, with both securing branding on the Australian national teams’ playing shirts for the 2023/24 season.
The new one-year sponsor agreement across all men’s playing kit will see Toyota take centre stage on the men’s shirt front, while HCLTech will appear on the sleeve of the leading arm on the men’s playing shirt.
Toyota will feature on the non-leading sleeve (ie, the right-arm for right-handed batters, and vice-versa for left-handers) of both the men’s and women’s playing kit.
Commonwealth Bank remains the principal shirt front and leading-arm sponsor of the women’s playing kit, and the addition of a non-leading arm sponsor for the women marks the first time CA has sold all its available shirt sponsorship real estate.
The change for the men’s kit comes after Alinta Energy, which had been Australia’s men’s shirt front and leading arm sponsor since 2018, ended its deal with CA in June this year. Alinta had initially signed on for a four-year deal – the longest of its kind with CA – which it extended before a “change in brand strategy”.
HCLTech, which was on the sleeve for Australia’s ODI World Cup triumph, will continue to hold the prime position at next year’s men’s T20 World Cup to be played in the US and Caribbean. ICC regulations restrict shirt-front sponsorship at its events.
The Indian digital service major has been CA’s digital technology partner since 2019, and will have its logo across the chest of the men’s training kit.
This is the first time CA has separated the shirt-front sponsors of playing and training kits, a move CA’s executive general manager of Broadcast & Commercial, Stephanie Beltrame, said would “amplify the roles and prominence each holds”.
The one-year deal that covers a summer with visits from Pakistan and West Indies also allows CA flexibility to continue negotiations for coming seasons, including next year’s inaugural five-Test home series against India, and the 2025-26 Ashes.
Per CA’s official website cricket.com.au, Australia captain Pat Cummins, a committed climate advocate, declined to feature in any promotional material for Alinta in the final year of its relationship with CA, but the governing body staunchly denied players had influenced the end of the relationship.
