After six years of keeping The Yorkshire County Cricket Club refreshed, Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea have decided that as from the 2004 season, they will be bowing out gracefully as the club’s main sponsor.

Yorkshire Tea has sponsored The Yorkshire County Cricket Club since 1998 and as well as supporting the county side, have worked with amateur players and tea ladies across the region. According to Katy Squire from Taylors of Harrogate, “We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with The Yorkshire County Cricket Club over the last six years. We’ve met thousands of Yorkshire supporters and kept both county and amateur players refreshed. However after six years its clear that The Yorkshire County Cricket Club needs more commercial partners and more funding. Cricket and tea are still the perfect blend and we look forward to continuing our work with amateur cricketers across Yorkshire and will continue to toast Yorkshire’s cricketing victories… with a cup of Yorkshire Tea, of course”.

Ian Bishop, Marketing Director for The Yorkshire County Cricket Club commented, “Taylors of Harrogate have been a tremendous supporter of the club for the past six years and we fully understand their decision to bring our relationship to a close. As a club, we needed to move forward with our sponsorship strategy and this announcement allows the club to pursue our plans of attracting five Official Partners rather than one title sponsor. We firmly believe that with the biggest brand in cricket, coupled with an expansive and loyal fan base, we can deliver a substantial return to our partners on a relatively modest investment. The new Official Partnership scheme allows The Yorkshire County Cricket Club to actively involve Partners with all strands of Yorkshire cricket such as women’s, disabled, youth, ethnic and community programmes as well as the main county sides. To date we have found two partners and are talking to a number of companies to take the final three places”.