Top sponsor Magellan ends association with CA amidst the ball-tampering fiasco

One of the key sources of funds for the Cricket Australia, Magellan has decided to terminate their contract with CA amidst the ongoing fiasco. Australian captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were handed one-year bans for their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal whilst the protagonist of the story, Cameron Bancroft, was handed a 9-month ban.

Magellan inked a three-year partnership in August 2017 as naming rights sponsor for Australia’s domestic Tests in a deal estimated at the time to be worth Aus $20 million. It began with the recent Ashes series against England.This, it said, was based on “shared values and reputations of integrity, leadership, dedication and an unwavering customer-first culture”.

“A conspiracy by the leadership of the Australian men’s Test cricket team which broke the rules with a clear intention to gain an unfair advantage during the third Test in South Africa goes to the heart of integrity,” said Magellan chief Hamish Douglass in a statement.

“Regrettably, these recent events are so inconsistent with our values that we are left with no option but to terminate our ongoing partnership with Cricket Australia. We were delighted with the recent Magellan Ashes Series sponsorship and it is with a heavy heart that we have to end our partnership in these circumstances,” he added as quoted by Cricket.com.au.

ASICS ends the relationship with Warner and Bancroft

Another body blow for the Australian cricketers David Warner and Cameron Bancroft was the end of their relationship with sports goods company ASICS. The entire incident had a significant monetary impact on these cricketers, beginning from losing their annual contracts to also getting banned from playing the Indian Premier League.

It all started in Cape Town when Cameron Bancroft was spotted on camera using a sandpaper to tamper the ball. When the umpires got a notice from the 3rd umpire to check Bancroft’s pockets, he duped it with a black cloth as he had already slipped the sandpaper in his pants. The incident didn’t spark more investigations as Steve Smith and Bancroft came out and had accepted their crimes in front of the media.