The four-year deal will give Specsavers full naming and branding rights around the historic competition, which will enter its 126th season in April - with current County Champions Yorkshire bidding to win their third successive title.

The new agreement strengthens Specsavers' relationship with county cricket as the eye-wear chain has been ECB's Official Optometry and Hearing partner, and Principal Partner of the Association of Cricket Officials (ACO), since 2014.

The Specsavers brand currently features on clothing worn by umpires officiating in all three county competitions and on clothing worn by ACO-appointed umpires in a range of club and junior cricket competitions nationwide.

Specsavers' appointment as County Championship title sponsor is the third commercial agreement concluded by ECB this year. ECB recently agreed a new five-year partnership with Greene King to be the Official Beer of England cricket and Yorkshire Tea has also renewed an agreement to be the Official Brew of England cricket for a further three years.

ECB Commercial Director Sanjay Patel commented: "We're very pleased to have agreed a four-year deal with Specsavers after holding discussions with several interested parties about this sponsorship package.

"The County Championship continues to enjoy a strong following and the competition's geographical spread across eighteen different counties will help Specsavers gain wider brand exposure at both regional and national level".

"Our commercial family continues to expand and today's announcement highlights once again that cricket is an attractive property to a wide range of different brands and businesses".

Specsavers Marketing Director Richard Holmes said: "This sponsorship builds on our existing sporting pledge to help the experts to see. "We're delighted with the levels of exposure we have achieved through our existing relationship with umpires and this is a great way for us to reach out to an even bigger audience of cricket fans nationwide and be a part of one of the game’s most famous and best-loved competitions".