Sports performance footwear brand PAYNTR is delighted to announce a partnership with Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Northern Diamonds.
PAYNTR will supply both the men’s and women’s teams with a range of footwear from their current collection, ensuring the athletes can play their best during the forthcoming season. The agreement highlights PAYNTR’s commitment to offering performance-enhancing footwear for cricketers in both the men’s and women’s game, as well as providing eye-catching and comfortable shoes for junior players as they progress through the ranks on their journey to be the best cricketer they can be.
‘We are hugely passionate about supporting the women’s game and giving the athletes the opportunity to experience the performance benefits of our PAYNTR footwear,’ said David Paynter, founder of the brand and former professional cricketer with Northamptonshire and Yorkshire.
‘For a growing brand such as ourselves, it is an honour to be associated with the players and we are so excited to be working with them during the new season and beyond,’ he added.
Northern Diamonds leg spinner Katie Levick – the all-time leading wicket taker in the history of the Women’s County Championship – has hailed the new agreement and hopes it will help to attract new money into the women’s game.
‘It’s fantastic that a brand such as PAYNTR has committed to supporting Yorkshire CCC and Northern Diamonds – I hadn’t had that much experience in terms of being supplied with kit in my career in the past, so it’s great for the growth of the women’s game when manufacturers approach us with equipment that will help us to play our best,’ she said.
‘I know a lot of the girls I play with, who are the same standard as me, don’t have any kit supplied and it’s been a big issue because how could we go to a manufacturer and ask for product, if we aren’t going to be seen on TV wearing and using it? But as the visibility of the women’s game increases, hopefully that will make these conversations easier,’ she added.
Levick is looking forward to competing for the Diamonds in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy when it restarts on May 29, after the franchise fell just short in last year’s final, losing to the Southern Vipers at Edgbaston in September. Like many players in the women’s game, Levick has two full-time professional jobs – one as the leading tormentor of batters with a decade-long career under her belt, and the other as a marketing manager at Pro Coach, the coaching arm of Yorkshire CCC.
‘I’m lucky that I’ve got a very understanding employer that knows for around a month of the year they’ll physically lose my presence, I’ll be working remotely, but there’s a lot of operating outside of hours, and a lot of individual sessions away from the team. I’m fortunate that coaches will do sessions with me towards the end of the day so I can get a full working day in my marketing role, but it is a struggle at times when you’ve done a full day’s shift in the office and then have to go out and train at 6pm. However, I get to live the dream of playing professional cricket. And that’s what makes the sacrifice worth it.
‘Cricket, as much as I love it, is an expensive sport to get into in terms of the equipment you need to play it. When I was a junior, I applied for whatever sponsorships I could, I emailed every company in the sport and if they could offer a discount, say 20% off, that would help my parents so much and kept me playing for another couple of seasons – any help for the women’s game is massively appreciated. Yes, we understand that we don’t get paid a wage to endorse products just yet, but if we can remove the cost of buying the product, that is a huge benefit for players making their way in the game,’ she adds.
For more details on the PAYNTR brand, and the full range of cricket spikes, pimples and accessories, please click here.