There used to be a mantra, chanted by coaches at all levels of the game to their charges as they urged them to play straight using the full face of the bat. "Show the bowler the maker's name" has echoed across practice sessions and through the ages. Now that will have to be changed to "Show him the sponsor's name."

With the International Cricket Council easing regulations related to advertising on equipment, cricketers are beginning to explore new means of increasing their earning power by, effectively, selling advertising space on their bats.

Before the recent change of policy by the ICC, only bat manufacturers, or cricketers themselves, were meant to display logos on the bat. However, there were some notable circumnavigations of the rules.

For some time, Sachin Tendulkar has gone to the middle using a bat sporting the letters "MRF" – the logo of the Madras Rubber Factory. This was allowed on a technicality whereby MRF actually bought a bat factory. It was common practice for this sort of thing to go on, especially in India where even tobacco companies would produce a few bats and then send out Test batsmen wielding blades that looked more like cigarette packets than cricket bats.

Steve Waugh - commercial opportunity ? Photo CricInfo

Some years ago in South African domestic cricket, England batsman Allan Lamb got into trouble for carrying a sponsor's logo on his bat and on his helmet. He was fined, amidst much publicity for the company concerned. Lamb's response? Put the price up and do it all over again with vastly increased publicity!

Now Mark Butcher will become the first England batsman to sport a sponsor's logo on his bat officially. The Surrey opener will join the Test tour of New Zealand which starts in March in the livery of Easter Holdings Ltd. As Butcher says, "Easters will benefit directly the more time I spend out in the middle."

In Australia, Adam Gilchrist has negotiated a bat deal with Puma and Travelex reported to be worth £100,000. There is no doubt that the doors to riches have opened for the top players, at least.

There will be one other consequence of this move. It has not been unknown for players to have a deal with one bat manufacturer, but to use the products of another. While happy to pick up the cheque, the batsman might be happier with the pick-up of another make of bat. So, the stickers are stripped off and the commercially preferable livery applied.

The same thing has happened in the past in golf, where the three-iron produced by one manufacturer would be taken out of a bag emblazoned with the logos of another.

On the other hand, we saw Australian captain Steve Waugh go through the 2001 Ashes series with a bat completely devoid of logos. As was said by CricInfo summariser Ray Phillips when Waugh dived into the crease to complete his century at The Oval and, still prone, raised his unmarked bat to acknowledgement the applause, "That is one big commercial opportunity gone begging."

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