Toyota Becomes Official Automotive Partner of Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland

Today, Toyota announces new, multi-year partnerships with Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland. The agreement sees Toyota become the Official Automotive Partner of Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland from May 2025.

In its new role, Toyota commits to supporting men’s and women’s national teams for Cricket Ireland and Scotland, alongside investing in initiatives to help foster the growth of grassroots participation across Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.

The partnerships follow Toyota’s recent appointment as the new principal partner to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in a multi-year partnership deal. Combined with Toyota’s latest appointment as the Official Automotive partner to Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland, Toyota is furthering its commitment to growing the game and making cricket more fun and inclusive for everyone across Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.

Growing grassroots participation in Ireland

Demonstrating its commitment to making cricket more accessible for all and cultivating wider engagement with grassroots cricket in Ireland, Toyota will also become the Official Partner of 'Smash It' a cricket programme for five to nine-year-olds. Led by trained Club Activators, Smash It aims to introduce kids to cricket in a fun, inclusive, and safe environment, while helping them develop skills, confidence and a love for the game.

Toyota will work closely with Cricket Ireland and Smash It with the aim of introducing more children to the sport. To achieve this, Toyota and Cricket Ireland will together help to introduce 1,400 children to the programme in year one. To support this goal, Toyota will offer more than 200 bursary places, enabling those from lower socio-economic areas who otherwise may not ordinarily have the opportunity, to take part in the programme for free.

Alongside this, Toyota hopes to incentivise further participation in the sport by providing Smash It participants with one free adult and child ticket to an Ireland international game over the next two summers, including exciting fixtures against West Indies and England (men’s) and Zimbabwe and Pakistan (women’s).

Increasing engagement in the sport in Scotland

In Scotland, Toyota is investing in Scotland’s All Stars Cricket programme to encourage more children to get involved in the sport and subsequently grow the number of participants at grassroots level across Scotland. All Stars Cricket is an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) programme – of which Toyota is the first official partner – that also operates in Scotland. Adopted by Cricket Scotland, the programme is designed to introduce five to eight-year-old children to the sport.

This investment will see Toyota fund 200 free bursary places each year, focused on enabling greater access among state school pupils to the All-Stars programme, as well as children with disabilities at Additional Support Needs centres.

In addition to the bursaries, Toyota’s dealerships will play a supporting role in growing All Stars Cricket among local communities by helping encourage sign-ups to the programme.

Good For Cricket prize draw

Demonstrating a broader commitment to supporting local cricket clubs, Toyota recently announced its ‘Good For Cricket’ prize draw. Launching in the UK on 21 May, the initiative aims to help clubs raise £500,000 this year alone for vital equipment and resources. Toyota is offering a prize pool in year one valued at more than £200,000 to support local clubs’ fundraising efforts.

Clubs can sign up to take part in the prize draw free of charge and will be allocated digital tickets for supporters to purchase. The participating clubs will receive all the proceeds from the tickets they sell, generating vital extra funds for their teams and community activities.

Scott Thompson, president and managing director at Toyota commented, "The two new partnerships with Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland build on Toyota's commitment to making cricket more accessible to all. Alongside our recent appointment as the new principal partner to the ECB, we are dedicated to nurturing and inspiring the growth of cricket's players, volunteers, and fans, both now and in the future. At Toyota, mobility is central to our mission, and these initiatives will empower more individuals throughout Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland to experience the joy of cricket and connect through sport."

Warren Deutrom, CEO of Cricket Ireland said, “We are delighted to partner with such an iconic global brand as Toyota, and we are greatly appreciative of Scott and his team for their commitment to grow participation, accessibility and the profile of cricket across Ireland.

“Last year we launched an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, and the principles and values outlined in that plan are at the heart of this partnership with Toyota. What is particularly exciting about this programme is the potential it offers for the future of the game on the island of Ireland as Toyota looks to expand the opportunities in 2026. Our Strategic Plan sets out our vision to attract more investment and resources to strengthen grassroots cricket, and this partnership helps to exactly deliver on that vision. We look forward to working with Toyota over the coming years and to seeing tangible and positive outcomes for our sport.”

Trudy Lindblade, chief executive of Cricket Scotland commented, “We are delighted to announce Toyota as Cricket Scotland’s Official Automotive Partner. It is extremely important and hugely exciting for us to have the opportunity to work with a globally recognised brand that is keen to help us drive the sport forward here in Scotland. 

“We look forward to Toyota’s investment that will support growth throughout the game in Scotland. In particular, the focus on grassroots cricket through All Stars bursaries will encourage and create opportunities for more young people to take up cricket and be inspired by our international stars, who continue to represent Scotland so well both on and off the field.”