Battle of beer behind Border's resignation?

Sydney, Oct 12 (UNI) Allan Border cited pre-occupations but going by media reports, it was a conflict between his personal beer sponsor and that of Cricket Australia (CA) which prompted the World Cup winning captain to resign from the selection panel.

Border's appearance in an advertisements for XXXX Gold didn't impress Foster's, a major sponsor of cricket, which recently announced a new deal with CA and that might have resulted in the former captain's resignation, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

XXXX Gold, Queensland's most popular beer, is owned by Lion Nathan, which is sponsoring beach cricket this summer here in Sydney, the Gold Coast and Perth.

Border, alongside Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Dean Jones, will representAustralia in the tournament.

The daily quoted Geoff Donohue, corporate affairs spokesman for Foster's, saying that Border's XXXX campaign was little more than ambush marketing.

''We think ambush marketing is fairly un-Australian. I will leave you to decide whether what they are doing with their current advertising campaigns is ambush marketing.

''I guess Allan has (resigned) in pursuit of his own commercial interests. But we are thrilled with our association with Cricket Australia and the Australian cricket team, and we're more than happy with the access we have to the current players,'' he said.

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