Bradford Cricket League

The Bradford Cricket League (Currently The JCT600 Bradford Cricket League) is one of many cricket leagues in Yorkshire.

Yorkshire is one of the most populated parts of the country in terms of cricket leagues with the Bradford League being considered as one of the best.

The League has been described as the strongest amateur cricket competition in England [cite news |url=http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,,1736381,00.html |title=Headingley gropes its way toward colour blindness |date=March 22, 2006 |publisher=The Guardian |accessdate=2008-10-09] .It currently has 26 teams around the Bradford and Spen Valley area ranging from Keighley to the north of Bradford across to Brighouse towards Huddersfield.

History

Originally started in 1903 with 12 clubs, only four (Undercliffe, Bankfoot, Manningham Mills & Great Horton) of those inaugural twelve still remain today.

The league runs a cup competition 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 no less than 13 times.

About the league

The league competition is made up of fixtures of 50 overs per side, with each team playing the others in their division both home and away. The stregnth 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 6 players with professional (first class) credentials.

Unlike some other league competitions bowlers are subject to a limit of 15 overs (in a 50 over innings) making team selection and balance all important. Whilst fielding restrictions apply in the Priestly Cup and Priestly Shield competitions, there are no such restrictions in the weekly league fixtures. League matches are contested on a win/lose basis rather than having points for drawn games (where one side is not completely bowled out). A bonus points system also exists.

Spectators at first XI matches are often required to pay for entry and a programme. The league maangement capped the maximum charge at £3 for 2008, with concessions being £1.50.

Many of the grounds in the bradford league are dimensionally 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.

Famous 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 Sir Leonard Hutton, England opening batsmen who was a youngster at Pudsey St Lawrence, and Sir Jack Hobbs who played at Idle between 1915-1918 and later went on to open the batting for England and become one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century.

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

Some of county crickets brightest hopes have also come through Bradford League cricket such as Andrew Gale and Adil Rashid of Yorkshire and James Middlebrook now of Middlesex.

Famous clubs in the league include Bowling Old Lane, who have had a number of players go on to play at Test level, including Bill Athey, Martyn Moxon and Darren Gough for England [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/08/06/scscyl06.xml] , and Yousuf Youhana for Pakistan [http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/features/vice-captain-out-to-make-amends,2122,EN.html] .

Here is a full list of players that have gone on to play international cricket:-

Baildon
* Matthew HoggardBankfoot

* Anthony McGrath (England)

Bowling Old Lane

* Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan)
* Martyn Moxon (England)
* Darren Gough (England)
* Bill Athey (England)
* Doug Padgett (England)
* Harry Elam (England)
* Harold Rhodes (England)

Bradford & Bingley

* Gareth Batty (England)

Brighouse

* George Hirst (England)
* Wilfred Rhodes (England)

Cleckheaton

* Yajuvindra Singh (India)
* Suru Nayak (India)
* Aby Kurruvilla (India)
* Ian Austin (England)

East Bierley

* Edwin St Hill (West Indies)
* Collis King (West Indies)
* Les Taylor (England)
* Roy Gilchrist (West Indies)
* Nick Cook (England)
* Jack Birkenshaw (England)
* Gavin Hamilton (England/Scotland)

Esholt

Farsley

* Ray Illingworth (England)
* Brian Bolus (England)
* Craig White (England)
* Nathan Astle (New Zealand)
* Graham Roope (England)

Gomersal

* Tony Blain (New Zealand)

Great Horton

* Imran Nazir (Pakistan)

Hanging Heaton

* Abdul Qadir (Pakistan)
* Dilip Vengsarkar (India)
* Samir Dighe (India)

Hartshead Moor

* Shahid Mahboob (Pakistan)
* Jacob Martin (Pakistan)

Idle

* Sir Jack Hobbs (England)
* Stewie Dempster (New Zealand)
* Dinushi Fernando (Sri Lanka)
* Ijaz Ahmed (Pakistan)
* Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)

Keighley

* Jack Woolley (England)
* Jack Hearne (England)
* Schofield Haigh (England)
* Eddie Paynter (England)
* Arthur Dolphin (England)

Lightcliffe

* Mohammed Kaif (India)
* Tom Powe (England)

Manningham Mills

* Phil Sharpe (England)
* Mike Veletta (Australia)

Morley

* Bobbie Peel (England)

Pudsey Congs

* Herbert Sutcliffe (England)
* Matthew Hoggard (England)
* Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (Pakistan)
* VVS Laxman (India)
* Paul Grayson (England)
* Chris Silverwood (England)
* Derek Randall (England)

Pudsey St Lawrence

* Sir Leonard Hutton (England)
* Eddie Leadbeater (England)
* Steve Rhodes (England)
* Mark Greatbatch (New Zealand)
* Martin Crowe (New Zealand)
* Simon Doull (New Zealand)
* Chris Pringle (New Zealand)

Saltaire

* Sydney Barnes (England)
* Bill Voce (England)
* Tom Goddard (England)
* Jim Laker (England)

Spen Victoria

* George Pope (England)
* Enoch St Hill (West Indies)
* Iqbal Qasim (Pakistan)
* Mansoor Akhtar (Pakistan)
* Wasim Jaffer (India)
* Vinod Kambli (India)

Undercliffe

* Cecil Parkinson (England)
* Charles Llewellyn (South Africa)
* Les Jackson (England)
* Alan Ward (England)
* David Bairstow (England)

Windhill

* Lou Vincent (New Zealand)
* Charlie Parker (England)
* Les Ames (England)
* Amol Muzumder (India)
* Learie Constantine (West Indies)

Woodlands

Yeadon

* Geoff Cope (England)
* Brian Close (England)
* Ted Peate (England)

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

Clubs 2007

Division 1
* Baildon
* Bowling Old Lane
* Bradford & Bingley
* Brighouse
* Cleckheaton
* East Bierley
* Farsley
* Hanging Heaton
* Yeadon
* Manningham Mills
* Pudsey Congs
* Pudsey St Lawrence
* Saltaire
* WoodlandsDivision 2
* Bankfoot
* Farsley
* Gomersal
* Great Horton
* Hartshead Moor
* Keighley
* Lightcliffe
* Morley
* Spen Victoria
* Undercliffe
* Windhill
* Idle

Honours 2007

Division 1 Champions: Woodlands Runners Up: Pudsey Congs

Division 2 Champions: Yeadon Runners Up: Esholt

Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup Winners: Pudsey Congs

2nd XI Division 1 Champions: East Bierley

2nd XI Division 2 Champions: Cleckheaton

Sovereign Health Care Priestley Shield Winners: East Bierley

ee also

*Priestley Cup

References

External links

* [http://www.bradfordcricketleague.org/ Official site]