The Love Lane Liverpool and District Cricket Competition is regarded as the top level of competition for recreational

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obs ...

in the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

area and since 2000 has been 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 ...

. The Competition operates a three divisional system with Premier, First and Second Divisions. The Southport and District Amateur Cricket League is its feeder league.

History

Although many of the district's clubs had met regularly as far back as 1850, if not earlier, it was not until 1892 that a Liverpool newspaper began publishing a weekly table and calling it the Liverpool Competition to create more interest in the game. The eleven senior clubs making up the original table were Birkenhead Park,

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

, Formby, Huyton,

, New Brighton,

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

, Oxton, Rock Ferry and Sefton. Neston were offered first team fixtures in 1908 and, in 1919, Hightown and Southport and Birkdale joined whilst

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

took over the fixtures of the Rock Ferry club who did not resume after the First War.

Boughton Hall Boughton Hall is a former country house in Boughton, to the east of the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. History The original house on the site is thought to have be ...

(later known as Chester Boughton Hall) were invited to join in 1923. The Competition continued until 1947 when it was decided to admit a sixteenth club, and Preston were voted in. Two years later, fixtures were standardised by all clubs agreeing to meet each other, and although there was no suggestion of a league, it was decided to regard the table as official. Preston resigned at the end of the 1952 season to be replaced by St Helens Recs in 1953. In recent years the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition has changed radically. There was an expansion in 1996 that introduced clubs from further afield in Lancashire and North Wales but saw founder members Birkenhead Park, Chester Boughton Hall, Neston and Oxton resign to join the

Cheshire County Cricket League The Cheshire County Cricket League is a cricket league based in England. It is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the Cheshire area and is a designated ECB Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Foo ...

for the 1998 season. Of the four, only Oxton had failed to be champions of the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition. In 1999 a two division structure was introduced, and in 2000 the 1st XI Premier Division was awarded ECB

status. From the end of the 2004 season, promotion from and relegation to the Merseyside and Southport Cricket Alliance feeder league was introduced, but was then curtailed from the end of the 2009 season. At this time, additional clubs from the Alliance were invited to join, to form a new three divisional structure. 2nd XIs play in a similar three divisional structure but independent of the 1st XIs. There is a two divisional structure for Saturday 3rd XIs and below, with another structure for those clubs preferring to play on Sundays. They have four Divisions, North East, North West, South East and South West.

Champions

Premier Division performance by season from 2003

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

play-cricket website
English domestic cricket competitions Cricket in Merseyside Sports competitions in Liverpool ECB Premier Leagues

History

Champions

Premier Division performance by season from 2003

See also

References

External links