Umbro and Castore lead the race to become cricket kit suppliers in England next year

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Port brands Umbro and Castore have emerged as favorites to become English Cricket’s official equipment supplier starting next year, when the ECB’s contract with New Balance expires.

New Balance signed a five-year deal as of 2017, which means that they will continue to supply all English men’s and women’s teams as well as the eight hundred teams this season. Before that, Adidas was England’s equipment supplier for nine years.

Standard sport understands that while no contracts have been signed yet, Umbro or Castore are most likely to take over, with Slazenger also being a surprising candidate.

Umbro is not currently involved in cricket but took over the subcontracting for England rugby last year, as well as Bristol Bears and Ospreys, and has a long history with the national team in football.

In rugby, Umbro has selected a number of individual “brand ambassadors” including England coach Eddie Jones and players on the men’s and women’s national teams including Ellis Genge and Shaunagh Brown.

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Castore, also a British brand, is a relatively new entrant that was only founded in 2015. It supplies the kit for the West Indies cricket teams as well as Andy Murray, McLaren F1, Rangers and Melbourne Storm.

Castore also has a number of brand ambassadors, including Jos Buttler and Owen Farrell.

English cricket sponsorship has changed a lot this year and LV = Insurance is returning as the official “title partner” of Test Cricket. Online used car sellers Cinch take on the main shirt sponsorship in their role as “main partner” instead of Natwest.