The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) is delighted to announce that NatWest will be supporting the PCA as part of their enhanced partnership with cricket, to recognise excellence across the game.
The new sponsorship agreement includes naming rights to the PCA’s flagship event, the NatWest PCA Awards. NatWest had previously supported the Awards from 2003-2013 and now return as the official sponsor for this month’s event which takes place at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane on Wednesday 28th September.
The NatWest PCA Awards is the most admired awards ceremony in English cricket and celebrates the past season in front of a 1,000-strong audience which includes past and present players, sponsors and guests.
The NatWest PCA Awards, an evening of glitz and glamour, recognises achievements with the presentation of 12 major awards which headlines with the Reg Hayter Cup for the NatWest Players’ Player of the Year, the John Arlott Cup for the NatWest PCA Young Player of the Year and the Waitrose Women’s Player of the Summer with all three awards being voted for by their fellow professionals.
Recent winners of the main awards include the likes of Moeen Ali, Adam Lyth, Ben Stokes and Joe Root with Durham seamer Chris Rushworth crowned the 2015 Players’ Player of the Year alongside England Lions and Surrey bowler Tom Curran who was awarded the PCA Young Player of the Year in a vote conducted by their peers.
All proceeds from the NatWest PCA Awards evening go to the PCA Benevolent Fund.
The fund, which is generously supported by Royal London, provides players and their dependants a helping hand to readjust to the world beyond cricket as well as helping current and past players who may have fallen on hard times or are in need of specialist advice or assistance.
David Leatherdale, Chief Executive Officer of the PCA, welcomed the return of NatWest.
"It is great to re-establish our partnership with NatWest to further strengthen their support of cricket after recently agreeing to become the ECB’s Principal Partner. The NatWest PCA Awards is the highlight of our event calendar, and a great end of season celebration for everyone involved in English cricket and I’m looking forward to sharing the occasion under the NatWest banner,” he said.
Chris Marsh, Head of Sponsorship & Events at NatWest said: “Cricket has been a part of NatWest’s DNA since the NatWest Trophy was established in 1980. We are delighted that we are further strengthening our association with cricket by becoming the ECB’s first ever Principal Partner and re-invigorating our partnership with the PCA.”