Bradford Cricket League

The Bradford Cricket League (currently known as the JCT600 Bradford Cricket League for sponsorship reasons) is an amateur cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It has been described as "arguably the country's strongest amateur competition."^[3]

The league is structured into two divisions, with eleven teams in Division One, and fourteen in Division Two. Most teams are from Bradford, but some are from neighboring towns.

History

The League was formed in 1903 with twelve clubs but only four (Undercliffe, Bankfoot, Manningham Mills and Great Horton) of the inaugural twelve are current members.

The first club to win the League was Shelf, in 1903, claiming their only Bradford League title. In total, the League has had twenty-six different winners of its top division. The most successful club is Bradford CC, with 10 titles. The most successful club to still operate in the Bradford League is Undercliffe, who have 9 titles to their name.^[4]

The last decade has seen 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. The only other team to win the title since 2000 is Baildon, who were victorious in 2009.^[5] Woodlands are the current champions, and their five titles could be considered as quite a feat as they were only readmitted to the League in 2001 (they previously spent two seasons in the second division in 1910 and 1911).^[6]

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.^[7] However, the most successful club in the competition is Undercliffe, who have won it fourteen times.^[8]

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.

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).^[9]

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.^[10] As thus, the maximum amount 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.^[11]

Many of the grounds in the League are quite small. This fact, combined with traditionally good groundkeeping and wickets prepared primarily for batting makes for an exciting blend of cricket popular with supporters.

Noted players

Inevitably, the high standard of the League has meant that numerous players have managed to develop and become successful county and even Test cricketers. Some of the most notable members include Leonard Hutton, who was a youngster at Pudsey St Lawrence, Jack Hobbs who played at Idle between 1915-1918 and Gerald Smithson.

Notable overseas players include West Indian fast bowler Learie Constantine, Indian Test player VVS Laxman and Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf.

Some of county cricket's brightest hopes have also come through Bradford League cricket such as Adil Rashid of Yorkshire, current captain of Yorkshire Andrew Gale, and James Middlebrook, now of Northamptonshire.

The following Bradford League players have played international cricket:

In April 1999, Kathryn Leng became the first woman to play in the Bradford League, representing the former Yorkshire Bank club.

Clubs 2015

Honours 2014

^[12]

See also

• Priestley Cup

References

External links

• Official site
• Telegraph & Argus BCL section