Scarboro’ to play in newlook league
League cricket in Yorkshire will get an exciting new-look in 2016 with the creation of Yorkshire Premier Cricket.
Scarborough CC will be in one of the four premier leagues which will all have partner l ea g ues beneath them as the first steps are ta ken towards creati ng a Yorkshire pyramid for club cricket.
There will be promotion and relegation throughout.
It aims to have the top players and teams playing on the finest grounds in a competition that will showcase the best of league cricket in Yorkshire.
The top team in each of the premier leagues will feature in the end- of- season Champion of Champion play-offs.
The semi- finals are expected to be held at Scarborough’s North Marine Road ground and Headingley with the final to take place in Abu Dhabi in October 2016.
Currently there are two premier leagues operating in England’s largest county, the North Yorkshire South Durham League and the Yorkshire League.
Under the new structure the Yorkshire League will be split into two to form Yorkshire League North and Yorkshire League South.
The North Yorkshire South Durham League will remain unchanged. The fourth place will be filled by the Bradford League, which is in the process of securing ECB premier league status.
Yorkshire League North will feature seven members of the old Yorkshire League, York, Scarborough, Harrogate, Hull, Castleford, Driffield and the Yorkshire Academy, who will be joined by five teams from its partner league, the York Senior League.
Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield Collegiate, Sheffield United, Doncaster, Cleethorpes and Appleby Frodingham from the Yorkshire League will be joined by three teams from their partner l eague, the South Yorkshire League and two from the Central Yorkshire League.
The Bradford League will be at the pinnacle of the pyramid in West Yorkshire where the Central Yorkshire League has voted to be partner league.
Talks are ongoing with further leagues to join the pyramids for Yorkshire League South, Yorkshire League North and the Bradford League.
The newly-formed Yorkshire Premier Cricket board will oversee the new structure.