The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has added another big brand to their sponsorship roaster by signing a deal with global technology firm Microsoft. The cricket board announced the long term and path-breaking partnership with Microsoft on February 10.
As part of the deal, the grass-root cricket communities will be provided with digital skills training. With this contract agreement with ECB, Microsoft hopes to promote the Get On campaign that hope to spread its technology to 1.5 million people by 2024.
ECB will be looking to utilize Microsoft’s technology to drive innovation into the English setup, using technology across Cricket Communities that will help in improving performance and aid cultural transformation. The English cricket board will also work with Microsoft to explore how artificial intelligence, real-time data, and analytics to improve the performance of England’s national teams. They would also investigate whether ball-tracking technology is the future of the sport or not.
While commenting on the deal, ECB’s CEO Tom Harrison said, “This partnership has the potential to transform every level of our game. We could not have a better partner than Microsoft as we look to put technology at the heart of our business, develop the culture of the game, and bring our purpose to life.”
Clare Barclay, CEO, Microsoft UK, said, “Microsoft is proud to support the England and Wales Cricket Board in its quest to become a digital-first organization that can meet the needs and expectations of fans and players now and in the future.”
England is well-known for using technology to improve cricket. Recently, ECB invented a code system, coined as the Live Informational Resource that tracks live in game performance of players and team. England was also one of the first cricketing nations to use hawkeye for ball tracking and DRS system.