Bradford Premier League (Redirected from Bradford Cricket League)
Format | Amateur, 50 over game |
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First edition | 1903 |
Tournament format | Four divisions |
Number of teams | 48 |
Current champion | Woodlands |
Most successful | Bradford, Pudsey St Lawrence (10 titles each) |
Most runs | Richard Robinson (16,352) |
Most wickets | David Batty (1,823) |
The Bradford Premier League (currently known as the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is an amateur cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It has been described as "arguably England's strongest amateur competition.". This is despite most people being aware that top clubs have player wage bills in the 5 figure brackets.
The league is structured into four divisions. Many teams are from Bradford, with others from neighbouring towns and cities across West Yorkshire.
The league was renamed the Bradford Premier League in 2016, upon the merger of the Bradford Cricket League and the Central Yorkshire Cricket League, and since 2016 it has been a designated ECB Premier League. Since 2016, the winners qualify to take part in the Yorkshire Championship, together with the winners of the Yorkshire Premier League North and the Yorkshire South Premier League, and the leading Yorkshire club in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League. Hanging Heaton won the Yorkshire Championship in 2017, the only team from the Bradford League to do so thus far.
History
The Bradford Cricket League was formed in 1903 with twelve clubs but only two (Undercliffe and Bankfoot) of the inaugural twelve are current members.
The first club to win the Bradford Cricket League was Shelf, in 1903, claiming their only League title. In total, the League has had twenty-six different winners of its top division. The most successful clubs are Bradford CC and Pudsey St Lawrence CC, with 10 titles each.
The turn of the century saw the domination of Pudsey Congs and Woodlands within the top division. Pudsey Congs won five consecutive titles between 2000 and 2004, and Woodlands won the following four titles.
In 2016, The Bradford Cricket League merged with the Central Yorkshire League to form the Bradford Premier League. Until then, the League had operated as two divisions, but this format was expanded to four divisions to accommodate the extra teams.
The League runs two cup competitions for the first and second teams of every club within the League. The first team competition is the Priestley Cup, which has been running since 1904, and the second team competition is the Priestley Shield, which has been running since 1913. Both the Cup and Shield are named for Sir William Priestley, who donated the presentation trophies for which the competitions are played.
The only club ever to have won the Cup three times in a row is East Bierley, who won in 1998, 1999 and 2000. However, the most successful club in the competition is Undercliffe, who have won it fourteen times.
Structure
The League competition is made up of fixtures of fifty overs per side, with each team playing the others in their division both home and away. The strength of the League and its players is in part assisted by the League management having an open policy on the payment of players and no particular limit on the number of professional players in each game. However, teams are limited to one overseas player. In 2008 some first division sides have fielded as many as six players with professional (first-class) credentials.[citation needed]
There are certain playing restrictions that apply to all League fixtures. Bowlers are limited to bowling a maximum of fifteen overs per innings, the fielding side's innings must be bowled within 3 hours 10 minutes (failure to do so results in a points penalty), and the fielding side must have four fieldsmen plus the wicketkeeper and bowler within a 30-yard fielding circle at the moment of delivery (failure to do so results in a no-ball being called).
Points are awarded as follows: 10 points for a win, 5 points to each side for a tie (scores level), 0 points for a loss, 5 points to each side for abandonment (no play), and 5 points to each side for an abandonment (with play, no win achieved). For all results, bar an abandonment with no play, teams can gain an added maximum of five bonus batting points and five bonus bowling points. Batting points are awarded as 1 point for scoring 125 runs, with an extra 1 point for every further 25 runs (to a maximum of 5 points), and bowling points are awarded as 1 point for every 2 wickets taken. As thus, the maximum number of points that can be gained from a game is 20.
Spectators at first XI matches are often required to pay for entry and a programme. The League management has, from 2008, capped the maximum charge at £3, with concessions at £1.50. Second XI matches are capped at a maximum of 25p for adults and 10p for children. All gate receipts are kept by the home club.
Many of the grounds in the League are quite small. This fact, combined with traditionally good groundskeeping and wickets prepared primarily for batting makes for an exciting blend of cricket popular with supporters.
Winners
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Year Club 1st XI Champions, 1903–1922 1903 Shelf 1904 Great Horton 1905 Clayton 1906 Great Horton 1907 Undercliffe 1908 Great Horton 1909 Great Horton 1910 Idle 1911 Windhill 1912 Bingley 1913 Laisterdyke 1914 Bradford 1915 Bowling Old Lane 1916 Idle 1917 Saltaire 1918 Saltaire 1919 Keighley 1920 Saltaire 1921 Bingley 1922 Saltaire -
Year Club 1st XI Champions, 1923–1942 1923 Bowling Old Lane 1924 Bowling Old Lane 1925 Undercliffe 1926 Saltaire 1927 Bradford 1928 Bradford 1929 Bradford 1930 Brighouse 1931 Brighouse 1932 Brighouse 1933 Bradford 1934 Bradford 1935 Undercliffe 1936 Bradford 1937 Windhill 1938 Windhill 1939 Windhill 1940 Windhill 1941 Windhill 1942 Lidget Green -
Year Club 1st XI Champions, 1943–1962 1943 Saltaire 1944 Spen Victoria 1945 Undercliffe 1946 Keighley 1947 Salts 1948 Windhill 1949 Salts 1950 Baildon 1951 Baildon 1952 Baildon 1953 Salts 1954 Salts 1955 Bradford 1956 Pudsey St Lawrence 1957 Lidget Green 1958 Bradford 1959 Bingley 1960 Brighouse 1961 Salts 1962 Farsley -
Year Club 1st XI Champions, 1963–1982 1963 Undercliffe 1964 Lidget Green 1965 Idle 1966 Idle 1967 Idle 1968 Bradford 1969 Bingley 1970 Undercliffe 1971 Undercliffe 1972 Bankfoot 1973 Bingley 1974 Idle 1975 Pudsey St Lawrence 1976 Pudsey St Lawrence 1977 Idle 1978 Bowling Old Lane 1979 Pudsey St Lawrence 1980 Yorkshire Bank 1981 East Bierley 1982 Bingley -
Year Club 1st XI Champions, 1983–2002 1983 Yorkshire Bank 1984 Pudsey St Lawrence 1985 Pudsey St Lawrence 1986 Undercliffe 1987 Hanging Heaton 1988 East Bierley 1989 Hanging Heaton 1990 Bradford and Bingley 1991 Pudsey St Lawrence 1992 Bradford and Bingley 1993 East Bierley 1994 East Bierley 1995 Hanging Heaton 1996 East Bierley 1997 Undercliffe 1998 Bradford and Bingley 1999 Hanging Heaton 2000 Pudsey Congs 2001 Pudsey Congs 2002 Pudsey Congs -
Year Club 1st XI Champions, 2003–2021 2003 Pudsey Congs 2004 Pudsey Congs 2005 Woodlands 2006 Woodlands 2007 Woodlands 2008 Woodlands 2009 Baildon 2010 Pudsey Congs 2011 Woodlands 2012 Woodlands 2013 Cleckheaton 2014 Cleckheaton 2015 Pudsey St Lawrence 2016 Pudsey St Lawrence 2017 Hanging Heaton 2018 Pudsey St Lawrence 2019 Woodlands 2020 COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Woodlands
Source:
Performance by season from 2016
Key | |
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Gold | Champions |
Red | Relegated |
Club | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
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Batley | 11 | 10 | ||||
Bradford and Bingley | 7 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 8 | |
Cleckheaton | 6 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 9 | |
East Bierley | 10 | 10 | 11 | |||
Farsley | 3 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | |
Hanging Heaton | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | |
Lightcliffe | 9 | 8 | 9 | 12 | ||
Methley | 5 | 8 | 7 | |||
Morley | 11 | 11 | ||||
New Farnley | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | |
Pudsey Congs | 8 | 12 | ||||
Pudsey St Lawrence | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
Scholes | 12 | 12 | ||||
Townville | 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | ||
Undercliffe | 11 | |||||
Woodlands | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
Wrenthorpe | 10 | 12 | ||||
References |
- ^ Coronavirus pandemic forced a reduction in league activity.
2022 1st XI Teams
Premier Division
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Championship
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Division One
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Division Two
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Noted players
Some of the more notable members include Leonard Hutton, who was a youngster at Pudsey St Lawrence and Jack Hobbs who played at Idle between 1915 and 1918. Notable overseas players include West Indian fast bowler Learie Constantine, Indian Test player VVS Laxman and Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf.
The following Bradford League players have played international cricket:
Baildon
Bankfoot
Bowling Old Lane
Bradford & Bingley
Brighouse
Cleckheaton
East Bierley
Esholt
Farsley
Gomersal
Great Horton
Hanging Heaton
Hartshead Moor
Idle
Keighley
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Lightcliffe
Manningham Mills
Morley
Pudsey Congs
Pudsey St Lawrence
Queensbury
Saltaire
Spen Victoria
Undercliffe
Windhill
Woodlands Yeadon
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In April 1999, Kathryn Leng became the first woman to play in the Bradford League, representing the former Yorkshire Bank club.
See also
- Bradford League, the football equivalent
- Priestley Cup