This is a list of English and Welsh cricket leagues recognised and supported by the England and Wales Cricket Board as ECB Premier Leagues, and beneath the League titles are the cricket clubs that are in their top divisions in the 2023 English cricket season. [1] These leagues and clubs are the top echelons of the amateur, recreational game of cricket in England and Wales.
There are also non-ECB-affiliated leagues such as the Lancashire League and the Central Lancashire League, as their standards of cricket also represent the highest standards in the English (and Welsh) non-first-class game.
Ashton | Clifton | Crompton | Heywood | Littleborough | Middleton | Milnrow | Monton & Weaste | Norden | Oldham | Radcliffe | Rochdale | Royton | Unsworth | Walsden | Werneth [24]
Accrington | Bacup | Burnley | Church | Colne | East Lancashire | Enfield | Haslingden | Lowerhouse | Nelson | Ramsbottom | Rawtenstall | Rishton | Todmorden [25]
52 teams. [26]
Chesterfield is a market and industrial town in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire, England. It is 24 miles (39 km) north of Derby and 11 miles (18 km) south of Sheffield at the confluence of the Rivers Rother and Hipper. In 2011, the built-up-area subdivision had a population of 88,483, making it the second-largest settlement in Derbyshire, after Derby. The wider Borough of Chesterfield had a population of 103,569 in the 2021 Census. In 2021, the town itself had a population of 76,402.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council. In April 1998 the Women's Cricket Association was integrated into the organisation. The ECB's head offices are at Lord's Cricket Ground in north-west London.
The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as a two-league system. The tournament is contested by eighteen clubs representing the historic counties of England and Wales. The reigning champions are Surrey.
Sandiacre is a village and civil parish in the borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England adjoining the border with Nottinghamshire. The population of the parish was 8,889 at the 2011 Census.
The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. It is the top-level Twenty20 competition in England and Wales.
The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom.
Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship competitions played at different levels: the County Championship, a first-class competition which involves eighteen first-class county clubs among which seventeen are English and one is from Wales; and the National Counties Championship, which involves nineteen English county clubs and one club that represents several Welsh counties.
Lou Vincent is a former New Zealand cricketer and opening batsman. He has represented New Zealand in Test match, One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket as well as playing for Auckland in New Zealand domestic cricket and Worcestershire and Lancashire in English domestic cricket.
Cricketers from Wales are currently represented by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and compete for the England cricket team. There have been some historical instances of a separate Welsh team in the 1920–30s, in the 1979 ICC Trophy, and in the British Isles Championship between 1993 and 2001, however Wales is not a separate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Alexander George Wharf is an English cricket umpire and former international cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast-medium bowler, who ended his career with the Welsh side Glamorgan County Cricket Club.
Cricket is one of the most popular sports in England, and has been played since the 16th century. Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lord's, developed the modern rules of play and conduct. The sport is administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board and represented at an international level by the England men's team and England women's team. At a domestic level, teams are organised by county, competing in tournaments such as the County Championship, Metro Bank One-Day Cup, T20 Blast and the Women's Twenty20 Cup. Recent developments include the introduction of a regional structure for women's cricket and the establishment of The Hundred for both men's and women's cricket. Recreational matches are organised on a regional basis, with the top level being the ECB Premier Leagues.
The Northern Cricket Club, located in Crosby on north Merseyside, England, was founded in 1859. The original clubhouse was in Rawson Road in nearby Seaforth until 1879, when the club moved to Haigh Road in Waterloo Park. In 1907 the club moved again, this time to its present site in the picturesque Moor Park area of Crosby, seven miles to the north of Liverpool. By 1961, the cricket club shared its grounds with hockey, squash and crown green bowls, and in this year the four sports merged to form the Northern Club.
The ECB Premier Leagues are a series of regional cricket leagues organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that form the top tier of club cricket in England and Wales. The ECB published "Raising the Standard" in 1997, the ECB Management Board Blueprint for the Future Playing Structure of cricket. This introduced the concept of ECB Premier Leagues, designed to raise the playing standard of the top tier of club cricket and to bridge the gap between recreational cricket and the First Class game. A national network of Premier Leagues was established, with funding from the ECB. The Leagues have to meet the published ECB assessment criteria and they receive accreditation on an annual basis.
The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 and Friends Provident Trophy competitions. Yorkshire Bank were the last sponsors, taking over the naming rights from their parent company Clydesdale Bank for the 2013 edition. Warwickshire won the inaugural tournament. The competition was replaced by a 50-over tournament, to bring the domestic game in line with the international game from 2014 on—the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The ECB National Club Twenty20 is a knockout Twenty20 club cricket competition in England. It was established in 2008 and the inaugural winners were South Northumberland. The competition is currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality Club T20. In 2023 Wimbledon, won the title for the third time when they beat Sandiacre Town. The 2024 champions are Northern, from Crosby on Merseyside.
Caythorpe Cricket Club was founded in 1880. It is an amateur English Cricket Club based in the village of Caythorpe, Nottinghamshire. The club competes in the Nottinghamshire Cricket Board Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, winning the league title in 2006. The club has also reached the semi-final of the ECB National Club Cricket Championship in 2005 and 2006 and won the Derbyshire Premier League Cup in 2009.
Sefton Park Cricket Club in south Liverpool, England was formed as Sefton Cricket Club in 1860. As well as being used for Sefton's senior, women's and junior teams' home fixtures, the club hosts Lancashire age group and junior sides, Liverpool City junior representative games, University of Liverpool cricket and Last Man Stands.
Philip Dean Salt is a Welsh professional cricketer who plays internationally for England and domestically for Lancashire County Cricket Club, and previously for Sussex. Primarily an aggressive right-handed opening batter, he sometimes keeps wicket and, less frequently, bowls right-arm off spin. Salt made his international debut for England in July 2021. Born in Wales, he moved in his youth to Barbados and then to England. Salt was part of the England team that won the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup. He made history after scoring two consecutive centuries in T20Is against West Indies.
The 2020 Bob Willis Trophy was a first-class cricket tournament held in the 2020 English cricket season, and the inaugural edition of the Bob Willis Trophy. It was separate from the County Championship, which was not held in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The eighteen county cricket teams were split into three regional groups of six, with the two group winners with the most points advancing to a final held at Lord's. The maximum number of overs bowled in a day was reduced from 96 to 90, and the team's first innings could be no longer than 120 overs.
The 2020 Vitality Blast was the eighteenth edition of the T20 Blast currently known as the Vitality Blast, a professional Twenty20 cricket league being played in England and Wales. run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which was branded as the Vitality Blast due to the tournament's sponsorship deal. On 12 August 2020, following a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ECB confirmed the fixtures for the tournament.
