The fallout from the Australian cricket team's ball tampering scandal is costing Cricket Australia dearly.
Magellan Financial Group Ltd has cancelled a naming rights sponsorship deal with Cricket Australia after it banned players involved in a ball-tampering scandal, the biggest blow to the country's governing body reeling from the incident.
The deal is reportedly worth $20 million.
Though some sponsors of Australian cricketers have pulled individual sponsorship deals, the decision by Magellan suggests the financial impact of the episode will go to the core of a sport seen by many Australians as the embodiment of fairness.
Steve Smith has been banned from cricket for a year. Photo: Photosport
Cricket Australia has banned captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner for a year from international and domestic cricket for their role in an episode that has earned condemnation from leaders all the way up to the prime minister.
Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on camera attempting to scuff up the ball with improvised sandpaper during a test against South Africa in Cape Town, was banned for nine months.
All three were sent home from South Africa.
Magellan said it was ending its contract with Cricket Australia seven months into a three-year deal which was based on shared values of "integrity, leadership, dedication and an unwavering customer-first culture".
More than 52 percent of Australians thought suspending players for a season was the most appropriate punishment for ball tampering, a poll by Australian cable television network Sky News found.
Nearly a third supported a lifetime ban.
Breakfast cereal maker Sanitarium Australia, which is owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, said it ended its relationship with team captain Smith as a breakfast cereal "Weet-Bix brand ambassador", effective immediately.
"Weet-Bix ambassadors represent our brand values of trust and integrity, and they speak to everything that is good about being Australian," said Sanitarium executive general manager Todd Saunders.
"Based on the ball tampering incident and the findings of Cricket Australia's investigation, we are unable to continue our relationship with Steve Smith," Saunders added.
Sports apparel maker ASICS Corp cancelled sponsorship deals with both vice-captain Warner and Bancroft, describing their actions as "not something that ASICS tolerates and are contrary to the values the company stands for".
Sponsors Magellan have terminated their naming rights deal with Cricket Australia. Photo: Photosport
For Warner, ASICS was the second sponsor in two days to abandon him. Electronics maker LG had already said it would not be giving the 31-year-old a new sponsorship deal.
Smith and Warner have also lost the IPL Twenty20 contracts worth $2.5 million apiece.
-Reuters