The Northern Premier Cricket League is a cricket league in the North West of England and was designated as an ECB Premier League in 2000.[1] Prior to that date it was known as the Northern Cricket League.
| Countries |  England |
|---|---|
| Administrator | ECB |
| Format | Limited Overs |
| First edition | 1951 (Founded) 2000 (ECB Premier League) |
| Tournament format | League |
| Number of teams | 10 (Division One) 10 (Division Two) |
| Current champion | Fleetwood CC (6th title) |
| Most successful | Blackpool CC (18 titles) |
| Website | https://npcl.play-cricket.com/ |
Because the Northern Premier Cricket League had no formal feeder league and no automatic relegation and promotion, the ECB suggested on several occasions that its ECB Premier League status might be withdrawn. As from 2017, the Palace Shield became the Northern Premier League's feeder league and promotion and relegation between the two leagues took place for the first time at the end of the 2017 season.
History
editThe Northern Cricket League was founded on 10 November 1951,[2] in controversial circumstances. Several of the clubs in the west of the area covered by the Ribblesdale League had been unhappy for some time about the format of that League. The League had a membership of 18 clubs which meant that only 5 opponents in the League were played against twice per season whilst the remainder were played against once. This group of clubs met secretly on 7 October 1951 and produced a handwritten document which stated:
The following Ribblesdale League clubs:- Blackpool, Chorley, Darwen, Fleetwood, Lancaster, Leyland, Morecambe, St Annes being duly authorised by their respective Committees are resolved from this meeting to request the Ribblesdale League to form a West Section, comprising the above named clubs together with Leyland Motors, Furness and Kendal. Failing agreement on the part of the Ribblesdale League the above eight clubs pledge themselves to resign forthwith from the Ribblesdale League and to create a new league, which would include an invitation to Leyland Motors, Furness, Kendal and Preston.[3]
At the AGM of the Ribblesdale League, held in Whalley on 10 November 1951, the motion was proposed to form West and East sections with the West section comprising Blackpool, Chorley, Darwen, Fleetwood, Lancaster, Leyland, Morecambe, and St Annes, plus two new clubs Furness and Kendal (both from the North Lancashire Cricket League) along with Leyland Motors if they wished to play in the West section. After discussion, the vote was 9–9 and was defeated on the casting vote of the President who had earlier expressed distaste at the way the western clubs had acted.[4]
The eight clubs duly resigned from the Ribblesdale League, as did Leyland Motors, and representatives of these clubs along with those of Furness and Kendal then met at the Swan Hotel in Whalley where the Northern Cricket League was formed. Preston Cricket Club were invited to join the new league as the twelfth team. The invitation was accepted but they remained in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition for one further year before participating in the Northern Cricket League's second season in 1953.[2]
Furness left the league after the 1958 season to be replaced by Netherfield, but there were to be no further changes to the membership until Barrow joined the league in 2004. More recent changes in the membership can be seen below. Leyland merged with lower level club BTR in 2000 and adopted the name Leyland and Farington, while Leyland Motors were known as Leyland DAF between 1991 and 2000. Founder members Darwen left the league after the 2016 season. In 2017 promotion and relegation was agreed between the Northern League and Palace Shield and at the end of the season Garstang and Fulwood & Broughton replaced Lancaster and Kendal. For the 2023 season, Fleetwood re-joined the Northern League as Palace Shield champions, alongside Palace Shield runners-up and Northern League newcomers Eccleston with Lancaster and Vernon Carus going in the opposition direction and both returning to the Palace Shield.
In 2024,[5] changes were made to the competition which saw a coalition between the Northern Premier Cricket League (NCPL), the Palace Shield and the Westmorland Cricket League. It resulted in the NCPL becoming a two-division league, leaving the Palace Shield as an amateur competition and incorporating the Westmorland League into the pyramid in a more recognised fashion than previously. Division One and Division Two of the NCPL will have ten teams, as will the Palace Shield Premier Division.[6]
Winners
editA list of the champions of the NPCL since 1952.[2]
-
Year Champions 1952 St Annes 1953 Furness 1954 Blackpool 1955 Blackpool 1956 Kendal 1957 Lancaster 1958 Furness 1959 Kendal 1960 Blackpool 1961 Leyland 1962 Blackpool 1963 Blackpool 1964 Blackpool 1965 Blackpool 1966 Darwen 1967 Blackpool and Preston[a] 1968 Morecambe 1969 Blackpool 1970 Preston 1971 Chorley -
Year Champions 1972 Fleetwood 1973 Leyland Motors 1974 Blackpool 1975 Fleetwood 1976 Lancaster 1977 Lancaster 1978 Lancaster 1979 Lancaster 1980 Chorley 1981 Leyland 1982 Blackpool 1983 Preston 1984 Blackpool 1985 Fleetwood 1986 Lancaster 1987 Darwen 1988 Blackpool 1989 Blackpool 1990 Blackpool 1991 Leyland -
Year Champions 1992 Morecambe 1993 Kendal 1994 Kendal 1995 Morecambe 1996 St Annes 1997 Netherfield 1998 Netherfield 1999 Darwen 2000 Netherfield 2001 Netherfield 2002 Darwen 2003 Darwen 2004 Fleetwood 2005 St Annes 2006 Morecambe 2007 St Annes 2008 Netherfield 2009 St Annes 2010 Leyland 2011 St Annes -
Year Champions 2012 Fleetwood 2013 Leyland 2014 Blackpool 2015 Morecambe 2016 Leyland 2017 Netherfield 2018 Blackpool 2019 Leyland 2020 League suspended 2021 Blackpool 2022 Garstang 2023 Kendal 2024 Fleetwood
- ^ Joint champions.
Division One performance by season from 2000
edit| Key | |
|---|---|
| Gold | Champions |
| Blue | Left League |
| Red | Relegated |
| Club | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrow | 11 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 12 | ||||||||
| Blackpool | 5 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Carnforth [a] | 9 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 14 | |||||||||||||||||
| Chorley | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 2 | |
| Darwen [b] | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 11 | |||||||
| Eccleston | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fleetwood | 7 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 6 | ||
| Fulwood & Broughton | 10 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Garstang | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Kendal | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 1 | ||
| Lancashire Colts [c] | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lancaster | 9 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 2 | 11 | ||||
| Leyland [d] | 7 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| Leyland & Farington [d] | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 14 | |||||||||||||||||
| Leyland Motors [d] | 11 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| Longridge | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Morecambe | 4 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 11 | ||||
| Netherfield | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Penrith | 11 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||
| Preston | 12 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 12 | |||||
| St Annes | 6 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 9 | |
| Vernon Carus | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| References | [7] | [8] | [9] | [10] | [11] | [12] | [13] | [14] | [15] | [16] | [17] | [18] | [19] | [20] | [21] | [22] | [23] | [24] | [25] | [26] | [27][e] | [28] | [29] | [30] |
- ^ Carnforth left the league after the 2012 season to join the Westmorland Cricket League.
- ^ Darwen left the league after the 2016 season to join the Lancashire League.
- ^ Lancashire Colts withdrew from league cricket after the 2014 season.
- ^ a b c Leyland & Farington and Leyland Motors (Leyland DAF in 2000) merged under the name Leyland after the 2006 season.
- ^ Coronavirus pandemic forced all formal competitive sporting activities to be suspended.
References
edit- ^ List of ECB Premier Leagues Archived 15 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c "Northern Cricket League archive". northerncricketleague.org. NPCL. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ "The beginnings of the Northern Cricket League". northerncricketleague.org. NPCL. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ "Ribblesdale Cricket League". ribblesdaleleague.co.uk. RCL. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ "Nathan Walmsley blows away Torrisholme to seal Penwortham’s top-six position in Palace Shield" – Lancashire Post, 23 September 2024
- ^ "Changes to NPCL and Palace Shield for the 2025 season" – The Gazette, 22 April 2024
- ^ "2000 League Table".
- ^ "2001 League Table".
- ^ "2002 League Table".
- ^ "Division One - 2003".
- ^ "Division One - 2004".
- ^ "Division One - 2005".
- ^ "Division One - 2006".
- ^ "Division One - 2007".
- ^ "Division One - 2008".
- ^ "Division One - 2009".
- ^ "Division One - 2010".
- ^ "Division One - 2011".
- ^ "Division One - 2012".
- ^ "Division One - 2013".
- ^ "Division One - 2014".
- ^ "Division One - 2015".
- ^ "Division One - 2016".
- ^ "Division One - 2017".
- ^ "Division One - 2018".
- ^ "Division One - 2019".
- ^ "Division One - 2020".
- ^ "Division One - 2021".
- ^ "Division One - 2022".
- ^ "Division One - 2023".