Day one of an England v Australia Ashes series is one of the great dates in the sporting calendar, so it is with enormous fear, expectation and excitement that I travel to Edgbaston today as the guest of Rado, the new Official Timing Partner of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
This is a fantastic partnership for Rado, which will have its branding on LED boards around all ECB international cricket venues for the men’s and women’s Ashes series this summer, on the big scoreboard screens and on umpire and team review graphics.
The timing of this announcement couldn’t be better for Rado, especially with the England men’s test team scaling new heights under the stewardship of inspirational captain Ben Stokes along with head coach Brendon McCullum’s and his exciting ‘Bazball’ revolution.
Just as the England team is blazing a trail with its unrelenting attacking style, so too Rado sees itself as a pioneer in the world of watches, pushing the limits of design and technology, innovating with research and new materials.
The Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Skeleton is the embodiment of this attitude.
The Ashes captivates the public more than any other test cricket series, so Rado will be expecting to have significant eyeballs on its branding throughout the summer.
And this series is being spoken about among the cricketing fraternity as potentially the most exciting since 2005, when Michael Vaughan’s team won back The Urn from a previously unbeatable Australian side.
Every match of that series was a nailbiter, which drew in millions of fans who would not normally follow test cricket.
There were almost as many St George’s flags flying that year as I saw during Euro ’96, when Gazza almost inspired England to footballing victory on home soil.
If the cricket is anything like as exciting as the 2005 Ashes, then Rado is going to see its investment in this partnership handsomely returned.
It is a brand full of ideas, and offering genuinely original watches, particularly in its signature ceramic, so I hope it generates the broad recognition it deserves over this summer of sport.
