Shameless plugging as the Ashes approaches

You know the Ashes must be coming close when articles about cricket start appearing in unusual parts of the newspapers. Standing out over the weekend was a half-decent interview with Stuart Broad in the Times magazine (although I wasn’t too sure about the sub-title – ‘the finest, most destructive English player of his generation’).

However, the piece was sullied by an italicized closing to which readers of sporting interviews are becoming more and more accustomed – Stuart Broad wears underpants by Primark, the official sponsors of England cricket underwear. Those weren’t the exact words, but you get my drift.

Even worse, a mention of his sponsors is crowbarred INTO the article –

in five short years…cricket has changed: more professional, more money, more sponsors (indeed, this interview is part of Broad’s contract with…)

Shameless.

And it’s not only the Times. The excellent new Wisden Cricketer has a big interview with Kevin Pietersen. While the main text is fine, the photos grate – the only way for KP to get more visibility for his sponsors would have been if he had painted three stripes on his forehead.

I know from my time at the Guardian that sports editors grapple with this dilemma. Do they give in, or do they hold out? Most give in. How much longer before the interview is conducted by the sponsor, and the journalist does nothing at all?

NACB is sponsored by Bubbles of Honor Oak Park, suppliers of alcohol and bread when Sainsburys is closed.