Bradford Premier League


The Bradford Premier League is an amateur cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It has been described as "arguably England's strongest amateur competition."
The league is structured into four divisions. Many teams are from Bradford, with others from neighbouring towns 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 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.
The teams in the Premier Division for 2020 were intended to be: Batley, Bradford and Bingley, Cleckheaton, Farsley, Hanging Heaton, Methley, Morley, New Farnley, Pudsey St Lawrence, Townville, Woodlands, and Wrenthorpe.
The 2020 competition was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A replacement competition was arranged for the later part of the season when cricket again became possible, but with its winners not to be regarded as official league champions.

History

The Bradford Cricket League was formed in 1903 with twelve clubs but only two 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 1911. 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 credentials.
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, and the fielding side must have four fieldsmen plus the wicketkeeper and bowler within a 30-yard fielding circle at the moment of delivery.
Points are awarded as follows: 10 points for a win, 5 points to each side for a tie, 0 points for a loss, 5 points to each side for abandonment, and 5 points to each side for an abandonment. 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, 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

YearChampions
1903Shelf
1904Great Horton
1905Clayton
1906Great Horton
1907Undercliffe
1908Great Horton
1909Great Horton
1910Idle
1911Windhill
1912Bingley
1913Laisterdyke
1914Bradford
1915Bowling Old Lane
1916Idle
1917Saltaire
1918Saltaire
1919Keighley
1920Saltaire
1921Bingley
1922Saltaire
1923Bowling Old Lane
1924Bowling Old Lane
1925Undercliffe
1926Saltaire
1927Bradford
1928Bradford
1929Bradford
1930Brighouse
1931Brighouse
1932Brighouse
1933Bradford
1934Bradford
1935Undercliffe
1936Bradford
1937Windhill
1938Windhill
1939Windhill
1940Windhill
1941Windhill
1942Lidget Green
1943Saltaire
1944Spen Victoria
1945Undercliffe
1946Keighley
1947Salts
1948Windhill
1949Salts
1950Baildon
1951Baildon
1952Baildon
1953Salts
1954Salts
1955Bradford
1956Pudsey St Lawrence
1957Lidget Green
1958Bradford
1959Bingley
1960Brighouse
1961Salts
1962Farsley
1963Undercliffe
1964Lidget Green
1965Idle
1966Idle
1967Idle
1968Bradford
1969Bingley
1970Undercliffe
1971Undercliffe
1972Bankfoot
1973Bingley
1974Idle
1975Pudsey St Lawrence
1976Pudsey St Lawrence
1977Idle
1978Bowling Old Lane
1979Pudsey St Lawrence
1980Yorkshire Bank
1981East Bierley
1982Bingley
1983Yorkshire Bank
1984Pudsey St Lawrence
1985Pudsey St Lawrence
1986Undercliffe
1987Hanging Heaton
1988East Bierley
1989Hanging Heaton
1990Bradford and Bingley
1991Pudsey St Lawrence
1992Bradford and Bingley
1993East Bierley
1994East Bierley
1995Hanging Heaton
1996East Bierley
1997Undercliffe
1998Bradford and Bingley
1999Hanging Heaton
2000Pudsey Congs
2001Pudsey Congs
2002Pudsey Congs
2003Pudsey Congs
2004Pudsey Congs
2005Woodlands
2006Woodlands
2007Woodlands
2008Woodlands
2009Baildon
2010Pudsey Congs
2011Woodlands
2012Woodlands
2013Cleckheaton
2014Cleckheaton
2015Pudsey St Lawrence
2016Pudsey St Lawrence
2017Hanging Heaton
2018Pudsey St Lawrence
2019Woodlands
2020not played because of COVID-19 pandemic

Source:

Performance by season from 2016

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 1915-1918. 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
Lightcliffe
Manningham Mills
Morley
Pudsey Congs
Pudsey St Lawrence
Queensbury
Saltaire
Spen Victoria
Undercliffe
Windhill
Woodlands
Yeadon
In April 1999, Kathryn Leng became the first woman to play in the Bradford League, representing the former Yorkshire Bank club.