West of England Premier League
The West of England Premier League (WEPL) is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the West of England and is a designated ECB Premier League.[1]
Since its inception in 1999, the most successful club has been Bath, having won the Premier One title on ten occasions. The only other clubs to have won the title on more than one occasion are Frocester (2007, 2014 and 2015) and Taunton St Andrews (2001 and 2009).
The Premier Division One clubs for 2016 are: Bath, Bridgwater, Bristol, Clevedon, Corsham, Downend, Frocester, Potterne, Taunton, and Taunton St Andrews.
Structure
The WEPL covers the counties of Bristol, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and is the top tier of the pyramid structure of leagues in the area. The league has seven divisions, with the top league, Premier One covering the entire region, and the remainder covering more localised areas. The seven divisions each have ten teams, and are split into three distinct 'tiers':
| Premier One | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Premier 2 Bristol & Somerset | Premier 2 Gloucestershire & Wiltshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bristol & N.Somerset | Somerset | Gloucestershire | Wiltshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The structure changed after the 2015 season by eliminating Premier Division Two, so that the winners of the Bristol and Somerset Division and the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Division will be promoted directly into Premier Division One.
There are four feeder leagues serving the WEPL, each having a direct link with one of the lower divisions as follows:
- Bristol and North Somerset - Bristol & District Cricket Association
- Somerset - Somerset Cricket League
- Gloucestershire - Gloucestershire County Cricket League
- Wiltshire - Wiltshire County Cricket League
Winners
1999–2006
| Year | First tier | Second tier | Third tier | Fourth tier | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier One | Premier Two | Bristol & Somerset | Glos & Wilts | Bristol & N. Som | Somerset | Glos & Wilts Two | |
| 1999 | Bath (1) | ||||||
| 2000 | Bath (2) | ||||||
| 2001 | Taunton St Andrews (1) | ||||||
| 2002 | Bath (3) | Taunton | Westlands Sports | Frocester | Hanham | Glastonbury | Trowbridge |
| 2003 | Bath (4) | Frenchay | Glastonbury | Winget | Claverham | Taunton Deane | Lydney |
| 2004 | Cheltenham | Glastonbury | Taunton Deane | Stroud | Winterbourne | Uphill Castle | Swindon |
| 2005 | Bath (5) | Frocester | Bridgwater | Trowbridge | Westbury and District | Winscombe | Gloucester City Winget |
| 2006 | Bath (6) | Weston-super-Mare | Knowle | Westbury and District | Timsbury | Minehead | Marshfield |
2007–2015
In 2007 Gloucestershire/Wiltshire Two was replaced by separate divisions for Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
| Year | First tier | Second tier | Third tier | Fourth tier | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier One | Premier Two | Bristol & Somerset | Glos & Wilts | Bristol & N. Som | Somerset | Gloucestershire | Wiltshire | |
| 2007 | Frocester | Downend | Lansdown | Warminster | Winterbourne | Winscombe | Rockhampton | Wootton Bassett |
| 2008 | Bath (7) | Bristol | Taunton | Chippenham | Bedminster | Ashcott and Shapwick | Stroud | Lechlade |
| 2009 | Taunton St Andrews (2) | Taunton | Ashcott and Shapwick | Westbury and District | Old Bristolians Westbury | Chard | Hatherley and Reddings | Potterne |
| 2010 | Bath (8) | Downend | Bristol West Indians | Gloucester City Winget | Bishopston | Uphill Castle | Dumbleton | Goatacre |
| 2011 | Bath (9) | Gloucester City Winget | Chard | Goatacre | Chipping Sodbury | Midsomer Norton | Painswick | Winsley |
| 2012 | Bridgwater | Ashcott and Shapwick | Minehead | Cheltenham | Frenchay | Street | Dumbleton | Lechlade |
| 2013 | Bath (10) | Taunton Deane | Clevedon | Potterne | Chew Magna | Wembdon | Tewkesbury | Swindon |
| 2014 | Frocester (2) | Ilminster | Taunton | Lechlade | Lansdown | Frome | Apperley | Burbage and Easton Royal |
| 2015 | Frocester (3) | Potterne | Bedminster | Rockhampton | Claverham (Yatton) | North Perrott | Dumbleton | Trowbridge |
Performance by season
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Gold | Champions |
| Red | Relegated |
Premier One
| Club | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashcott and Shapwick | 7 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Bath | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | x |
| Bridgwater | 8 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 7 | x | ||||||||
| Bristol1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 8 | x | |||||
| Bristol West Indians | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Cheltenham | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 10 | |||||||||
| Chippenham | 3 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||
| Clevedon | 2 | x | ||||||||||||||||
| Clifton Flax Bourton1 | ? | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| Corsham | 2 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 4 | x | |||
| Downend | 6 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | x | |||||||
| Frenchay | 3 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Frocester | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | x | |||||||
| Glastonbury | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 10 | ||||||||||||
| Gloucester City Winget | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ilminster | 9 | 7 | 10 | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Keynsham | ? | 8 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 9 | ||||||||
| Knowle | 8 | 9 | 9 | |||||||||||||||
| Lansdown | ? | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Optimists1 | ? | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Potterne | x | |||||||||||||||||
| Stroud | ? | 11 | ||||||||||||||||
| Taunton | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | x | ||||||||||||
| Taunton Deane | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Taunton St Andrews | 5 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 5 | x | |
| Thornbury | ? | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 10 | |||||||||
| Trowbridge | ? | |||||||||||||||||
| Weston-super-Mare | 9 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 9 | ||||||||||
| Sources: | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5][6] | [7] | [8] | [9] | [10] | [11] | [12] | [13] | [14] | [15] | [16] | [17] | [18] | [19] | |
Notes:
- ^1 — Clifton Flax Bourton CC folded in 2001. Optimists CC (originally an offshoot of Clifton) adopted the name Optimists and Clifton CC after a number of former Clifton Flax Bourton players joined the club, and then changed its name to Bristol CC in 2005.[20]
References
- ↑ List of ECB Premier Leagues
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 1999". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2000". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2001". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2002 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "Nine days to settle result of final game". Gazette and Herald. 12 September 2002. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2003 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2004 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2005 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2006 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2007 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2008 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2009 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2010 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2011 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2012 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2013 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2014 Points Table". play-cricket. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
- ↑ "West of England Premier League 2015 Points Table". play-cricket. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
- ↑ "History". Bristol Cricket Club. Retrieved 27 March 2014.