The West of England Premier League (WEPL) is the top level of competition for recreational club
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
in the
West of England
West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan N ...
and is a designated
ECB Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
.
List of ECB Premier Leagues
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Since its inception in 1999, the most successful club has been Bath, having won the Premier One title on eleven occasions. The only other clubs to have won the title on more than one occasion are Frocester
Frocester ( ) is a village and civil parish in Stroud District, Gloucestershire, England. It lies below the Cotswold escarpment, 10 miles south of Gloucester and 4 miles west of Stroud. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 194, d ...
(2007, 2014 and 2015) and Taunton St Andrews (2001 and 2009).
Structure
The WEPL covers the counties of Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
and Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, 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':
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 are now 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
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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*Gloucestershire - Gloucestershire County Cricket League
*Wiltshire - Wiltshire County Cricket League
The Wiltshire County Cricket League (WCCL) is the feeder cricket league for the Wiltshire section of the West of England Premier League (WEPL). , the league has nine divisions of ten teams, who play 45-over matches on Saturdays. The winner of Div ...
Winners
1999–2006
2007–2015
In 2007 Gloucestershire/Wiltshire Two was replaced by separate divisions for Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
2016 to 2019
In 2016 Premier Two was eliminated, and there were now two divisions in the second tier and four divisions in the third tier.
Premier One performance by season from 1999
References
{{reflist
External links
West of England Premier League website
English domestic cricket competitions
Cricket in Bristol
Cricket in Gloucestershire
Cricket in Somerset
Cricket in Wiltshire
ECB Premier Leagues