Slazenger Extends Prior Sponsorship

Slazenger Extends Prior Sponsorship

©Slazenger

August 13th 2009 - Leading sports brand Slazenger today announced that it has extended its sponsorship with Sussex and England's number one wicket-keeper/batsman Matt Prior.

Prior, an integral member of the current England Ashes team will continue to be a brand ambassador for Slazenger. The extension follows a good first half of the year for Prior who has displayed good form in the Ashes Series so far.

Coming into the England side earlier this year on the West Indies Tour, Prior produced a very good series with the bat, making his highest test score (131 not out) in the final Test Match in Trinidad.  He retained his place for the return tour of England by the West Indies and reached 1,000 Test runs with 42 in the first innings of the First Test – the second-fastest England wicketkeeper to this mark. Prior is also England's first wicket-keeper to have scored a century on debut at Lord's in 2007.

Prior has taken his fine form into the Ashes series with half centuries in both the First and Second Test matches, Cardiff and Lords respectively.  He has also had a good year so far with the bat for Sussex in the County Championship, averaging over fifty runs.

Prior will continue to endorse the Slazenger Air Blade bat, which with its concave back spine gives fantastic pick up and manoeuvrability for all round stroke play. He will also use Slazenger's award-winning Elite Pro range of keeping gloves and pads which are perfect for the modern keeper, providing outstanding movement and durability.

Sunny Singh, Sponsorship manager for Slazenger comments: “Matt has already developed into the country's best wicket-keeper/batsman and has been an outstanding brand ambassador for Team Slazenger. We have enjoyed a fantastic relationship with Matt and very much look forward to supporting him with continued success in years to come”.

© Cricket World 2009

Get the latest from Cricket World® with Facebook, twitter and YouTube and keep up with the action with the latest cricket TV highlights and interviews.