# Northern Premier Cricket League

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. Prior to that date it was known as the Northern Cricket League.
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automatic relegation and promotion, the ECB suggested on several occasions that its ECB Premier League status might be withdrawn.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

The Northern Cricket League was founded on 10 November 1951, 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.
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.
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.
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, 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.

## Winners

A list of the champions of the NPCL since 1952.
* YearChampions 1952St Annes 1953Furness 1954Blackpool 1955Blackpool 1956Kendal 1957Lancaster 1958Furness 1959Kendal 1960Blackpool 1961Leyland 1962Blackpool 1963Blackpool 1964Blackpool 1965Blackpool 1966Darwen 1967Blackpool and Preston 1968Morecambe 1969Blackpool 1970Preston 1971Chorley
* YearChampions 1972Fleetwood 1973Leyland Motors 1974Blackpool 1975Fleetwood 1976Lancaster 1977Lancaster 1978Lancaster 1979Lancaster 1980Chorley 1981Leyland 1982Blackpool 1983Preston 1984Blackpool 1985Fleetwood 1986Lancaster 1987Darwen 1988Blackpool 1989Blackpool 1990Blackpool 1991Leyland
* YearChampions 1992Morecambe 1993Kendal 1994Kendal 1995Morecambe 1996St Annes 1997Netherfield 1998Netherfield 1999Darwen 2000Netherfield 2001Netherfield 2002Darwen 2003Darwen 2004Fleetwood 2005St Annes 2006Morecambe 2007St Annes 2008Netherfield 2009St Annes 2010Leyland 2011St Annes
* YearChampions 2012Fleetwood 2013Leyland 2014Blackpool 2015Morecambe 2016Leyland 2017Netherfield 2018Blackpool 2019Leyland 2020League suspended 2021Blackpool 2022Garstang 2023Kendal 2024Fleetwood
* ↑ Joint champions.
* WinsClub 18Blackpool 7Leyland 6Lancaster Netherfield St Annes 5Darwen Fleetwood Kendal Morecambe 3Preston 2Chorley Furness 1Garstang Leyland Motors
* 1 2 Blackpool and Preston shared a championship in 1967.

## Division One performance by season from 2000

Key :
| Gold | Champions |
| Blue | Left League |
| Red | Relegated |
Performance by season, from 2000 :
| Club | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 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 | | | | | | | 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 | 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 | | | | | | | | | | | 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 | | | | | | | | 7 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Leyland & Farington | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 14 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leyland Motors | 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
* ↑ 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.
* 1 2 3 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.