Cornhill Insurance has decided not to renew its sponsorship of English Test Cricket in 2001 after 23 years supporting the game at the highest level.

The decision has been made for business reasons and will bring to an end an association which pioneered modern title sponsorship.

"It is true to say that our partnership with Cornhill has often been used as a case history of how to dramatically increase name or brand awareness," said Terry Blake, the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) Marketing Director.

"We are naturally very sorry that Cornhill has decided to leave us after next season after a lengthy and friendly association but this does present a tremendous opportunity for another organisation to reap the same rewards as Cornhill."

Said Ray Treen, Chief Executive of Cornhill: "Our decision not to renew the sponsorship of England Test cricket beyond 2000 was taken solely on the grounds of our changing business needs. We are increasingly using a number of distinctive brand names to address different segments of the insurance market and as a consequence a corporate brand sponsorship becomes less appropriate.

"This is, in many ways, a turning point for the game with the appointment of a new coach and captain, new players being blooded and a new television broadcaster in Channel 4," said Blake.

He added that Channel 4's coverage of Test cricket had won wide acclaim from the public and was helping the game to build new, younger audiences - female as well as male - and multi-cultural support.

He emphasised that Test cricket represented one of the few top opportunities left in British Sport bringing nearly 300 hours of terrestrial television coverage as well as satellite audiences and pointed out that year one of the new sponsorship would be an Ashes year.

Next year will see the end of Cornhill's lengthy involvement but neither party - Cornhill or the ECB - will see it as a wake.

"We will want to make it a celebration of all the good things which have come out of this relationship over the past two decades." said Treen. "Our sponsorship of Test cricket over the past 22 years has been a great success story for us and has been the main reason why Cornhill Insurance is one of the best known insurance brand names in the UK."