Cravendale sponsors Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Leicestershire County Cricket Club has announced today that Cravendale fresh milk, produced by Arla Foods UK plc, is to be the club's team sponsor for the next three years.

The agreement includes sponsorship of the team kit both in coloured and white clothing, as well as extensive advertising at the County Ground, Grace Road.

Leicestershire's director of cricket, James Whitaker said: "The Cravendale sponsorship is a tremendous boost to the club and we look forward to a successful partnership throughout the new cricket season. Cricket and milk provide the perfect partnership as the links between health, sport and milk drinking are so strong."

This new sponsorship from Cravendale also gives the club the opportunity to apply for a Sportsmatch grant to fund a grass roots community cricket programme. This includes a bespoke cricket development programme with all schools and cricket clubs across Leicestershire, which will introduce kids of all ages to the game of cricket.

Part of the proposed grass roots sponsorship to be launched in October is The Arla Cup Festival, which will be held at the County Ground. Children from schools across Leicestershire will be invited to participate and the final will be played before the start of the last National league game of the season at Grace Road.

Ottis Gibson, a former West Indian fast bowler signed recently by the club will be the community coach of the proposed grass roots programme. Ottis has a level four coaching qualification, from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), only one of 30 people in the world with this qualification, Phil Whitticase, head coach at the club, is also qualified to this level.

Gibson added: "This is a tremendous opportunity for me to utilise my ECB level four coaching qualification and further my playing career. Leicestershire, with its recent restructuring, is the perfect club to join as I can sense a real desire for improvement. I am really looking forward to the challenge of both the forthcoming season and my coaching involvement."

The community programme not only meets National Curriculum Key Stage Two requirements but also meets the Government's target to increase physical education activity and recreation in schools.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club's first game will be at Grace Road against Glamorgan on 21 April 2004.

Arla Foods UK plc is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor. Processing approximately two billion litres of milk a year Arla continues to be one of the UK’s leading dairy companies and a supplier of fresh liquid milk and cream to the top seven retailers.

Over 2,500 daily deliveries are made directly to stores nationwide and Arla brands can be found across the dairy category. As well as the leader of the butter, spreads and margarine sector, and a major supplier of other added value products including flavoured milk and cheese, Arla continues to build working relationships with Arla Foods Milk Partnership, a unique group of dairy farmers, which supplies around 90 per cent of Arla's total milk requirements.

Behind this leading business is a team of circa 2,800 people across the UK located at our dairies, distribution centres and head office.