The Halifax Cricket League, who are celebrating their centenary this year, have received a “good call”.

They will be sponsored to the tune of £10,000 over two years by Foster’s Lager, who are owned by Heineken UK Ltd and are in their 125th year themselves.

This dwarfs the £2,000 a year the league were getting from loyal previous sponsor Towergate Insurance, who backed them for seven years until last year.

Foster’s have supported the league’s Twenty20 competition for the past five seasons, and they approached the league regarding the overall sponsorship, rather than the other way around.

Halifax League chairman Anthony Briggs said: “It shows the quality of the league that we are able to attract a blue-chip company - but Foster’s wasn’t the only bid.

“We had four offers on the table in all, which is great in these hard times.

“The new announcement also ties in nicely with the league’s new website, which should be up and running next month and is expected to have 80,000 hits a year.”

Heineken UK also have a clause for a third year’s support, and Briggs said: “This backing means we can continue to invest in junior cricket and keep down the fees for clubs.

“Financially this is a massive boost for the league and we can now offer them a support package.”

League president David Normanton said that the sponsorship was particularly timely given the awful summer that clubs had to put up with last year.

He said: “There was unprecedented rainfall and clubs wouldn’t have been able to make the same money as usual by selling beer or from making teas.

“It shows confidence in our league in these difficult economic times, but we would particularly like to thank Towergate for their backing, which brought us in £14,000 over the years.”

Daniel Wood, regional Heineken UK manager for Calderdale and Bradford, said the company was delighted to be supporting grass-roots cricket.

“I am very pleased that the Foster’s brand will be the official beer of the Halifax Cricket League,” he said.

The sponsorship announcement was made this afternoon at Blackley Cricket Club. The league contains many clubs from the Bradford area.

League backers before Towergate were Trinity Insurance (2000-05), Hiley Engineering (1997-99) and Ryburn Honda (1995-96).