League Cricket
West of England Premier League (WEPL)
The West of England Premier League is the ECB Premier League for clubs in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset. WEPL currently governs the first four tiers of club cricket across the three counties and also runs a shadow 2nd XI pyramid for the clubs in those top four divisions.
The 4-tiered league is host to highly competitive cricket that boasts many contracted players from the 2 first class counties as well as a large number of the Wiltshire Minor Counties side.
As well as offering high quality cricket WEPL also looks to support cricket development in a wider context through:
- Offering subsidies to WEPL clubs that send candidates through ACO Level 1 umpiring courses.
- Offering small grants to clubs within the WEPL pyramid.
- Wokring closely with county ACOs to allow them to appoint to home county matches in tiers 3 and 4 of WEPL. (A premier panel of WEPL umpires is selected on annual basis to officiate in Premier 1 and Premier 2).
WEPL also has dedicated sub committees to look at things such as facilities, pitch markings and discipline. All in all, the League is committed to ensuring that all aspects of the games such as grounds, wickets and umpiring are of the highest possible standard so that it attracts the standard of player that can help the league to grow in stature and reputation in the future.
Surridge Wiltshire County Cricket League (WCCL)
The Wiltshire County Cricket League is a member of Wiltshire Cricket Limited and is a county based organisation that feeds in to the WEPL structure (see above). The WCCL currently consists of 8 divisions, combining a mixture of some 3rd and 4th XIs (whose 1st and 2nd XIs are within WEPL), as well as some 1st and 2nd XIs.
The WCCL is an excellently run league with a very well organised and dedicted committee. Similarly to WEPL the league also tries to support cricket development through the following initatives:
Funding subsidies for Coach Education courses for candidates from clubs within WCCL.- Funding subsidies for umpiring and scoring courses for candidates from clubs within WCCL.
- A small grants scheme for clubs within WCCL.
- Working closely with the Wiltshire Groundsmans Association to offer support and advice to clubs that received poor pitch markings.
The Wiltshire County Cricket League offers fantastic opportunities for all different types of clubs and recognises that there are very ambitious clubs within the league striving for promotion into WEPL whereas there are other clubs happy to play at a laevel that is enjoyable and sociable. For all of these clubs there is support in place relevant to their needs.
ECB Southern Premier League
Whilst Wiltshire sides generally feed into the West of England Premier League, some clubs from the South of the County compete or feed in to the Southern Premier League. For example South Wilts CC are currently competing in the Southern Premier League Division 1.
The Southern Premier League is a very well run league. Its feeder league is the Hampshire County League that also contains several southern based Wiltshire clubs.
