Friends Provident Enters County Cricket

Financial services firm Friends Provident has signed up as the new title sponsor
of the one-day county cricket knock-out competition which will now be known as
the Friends Provident Trophy.

The deal with the ECB, worth £2m over three years, will run from 2007 until
the end of the 2009 domestic season.

A structural change for the tournament for 2007 is the introduction of
semi-finals, which will take place at the end of June following the preliminary
conference rounds. The final of the knock-out cup will be held at Lord’s on 18
August.

The competition will be officially launched in April and the Friends
Provident Trophy gets underway on Sunday April 22, with both semi-finals due to
be held on Wednesday June 20.

Friends Provident is no stranger to sport sponsorship having already been
heavily involved in football through its stadium and shirt sponsorship of
Southampton F.C.