Kent Cricket League

The Kent Cricket League was the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Kent, England.

The league was founded in 1970 and the first season of play was 1971. The twelve founding clubs were Ashford, Aylesford Paper Mills, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone, Gore Court, Gravesend, Holmesdale, The Mote, St Lawrence and Highland Court, Sevenoaks Vine, and Tunbridge Wells.

Beckenham, Blackheath, and Bromley joined the league before the 1973 season. Aylesford Paper Mills left after the 1976 season but were replaced by Forest Hill, and then Bexley joined for the 1978 season. Forest Hill closed down in 1980, but Hayes (Kent) and Midland Bank (now HSBC) joined in 1982 to bring the number of clubs in the league up to seventeen.

A major change took place before the 1996 season, when the league absorbed the East Kent Cricket League and the South Thames Cricket League. A new structure with three divisions was introduced, and for the first time there was promotion and relegation.[1]

From 1999 the Kent League was a designated ECB Premier League.[2] From 1999 to 2002, the league experimented with matches played over two days on consecutive Saturdays and was the only ECB Premier League to do this, but it reverted to one day cricket in time for the 2003 season. It was latterly known as the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League.[3]

Until the 2019 season the Kent League had six divisions each containing ten clubs, and below these six divisions lay the Kent Regional Cricket League. The teams competing in the Premier Division in 2020 were due to be Beckenham, Bexley, Bickley Park, Blackheath, Bromley, Holmesdale, Lordswood, Sandwich Town, Sevenoaks Vine, and Tunbridge Wells. The 2020 competition was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Kent Cricket League was the only ECB Premier League in England which chose not to organise any kind of replacement competition for the later part of the season when cricket again became possible.

Champions
Champions[4]
1971 Ashford
1972 Sevenoaks Vine
1973 St Lawrence and Highland Court
1974 The Mote
1975 The Mote
1976 Tunbridge Wells
1977 The Mote
1978 Sevenoaks Vine
1979 Holmesdale
1980 The Mote
1981 Dover
1982 Blackheath
1983 Beckenham
1984 Blackheath
1985 Ashford
1986 Dover
1987 Tunbridge Wells
1988 Tunbridge Wells
1989 Folkestone
1990 Gravesend
1991 Bromley
1992 Bromley
1993 Bromley
1994 St Lawrence and Highland Court
1995 The Mote
1996 Bexley
1997 Sevenoaks Vine
1998 St Lawrence and Highland Court
1999 The Mote
2000 St Lawrence and Highland Court
2001 Folkestone
2002 Bromley
2003 St Lawrence and Highland Court
2004 Bromley
2005 Bromley
2006 Bromley
2007 St Lawrence and Highland Court
2008 Hartley Country Club
2009 Bromley
2010 Bromley
2011 Hartley Country Club
2012 Hartley Country Club
2013 Hartley Country Club
2014 Sevenoaks Vine
2015 Hartley Country Club
2016 Hartley Country Club
2017 Beckenham
2018 Blackheath
2019 Beckenham
2020 not played because of COVID-19 pandemic

Performance by season from 1999
Key
Gold Champions
Red Relegated
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ashford 5 8 10
Beckenham 1 5 4 10 5 6 6 3 5 1 8 1
Beckenham and Sydenham 1 9 4 6 3 3
Bexley 8 3 7 5 7 5 3 9 5 5 4 7 7 5 5 4 2 7 2
Bickley Park 6 9 2 7 9 4 6 8 8 5 10 6 6
Blackheath 5 4 5 9 6 2 3 4 4 2 5 1 8
Broadstairs 8 10 10
Bromley 2 2 5 1 4 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 4 4 7 8 9
Bromley Common 10
Canterbury 9 9 9
Dartford 6 9 10
Folkestone 7 4 1 7 6 7 8 10 10
Gore Court 6 5 4 8 6 8 10
Hartley Country Club 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 9
Holmesdale 10
HSBC 10
Lordswood 6 5 9 6 9 9 3 6 2 2 6 7 4 2 7
The Mote 1 7 2 4 10 4 9
Orpington 10 10
St Lawrence and Highland Court 2 3 1 3 2 1 2 7 2 1 3 7 3
Sandwich Town 9 10 8 9 3 5 5
Sevenoaks Vine 4 6 4 3 2 8 4 6 7 7 6 7 5 3 8 1 2 6 8 4 4
Sibton Park 10 9
Tenterden 3 6 9
Tunbridge Wells 9 8 8 9 8 5 8 3 8 7 10 7 8 7 3 3
Whitstable 10 3 3 10 10
Sources: [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]
^1 — Beckenham entered into a merger after the 2000 season and became Beckenham and Sydenham, but this merger was dissolved before the 2008 season and Beckenham took the place in the Premier Division
^2 — St Lawrence and Highland Court were relegated after the 2010 season because they did not have the required Clubmark accreditation

References
  1. Kent Cricket League 2015 Handbook
  2. List of ECB Premier Leagues Archived 2008-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "The Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League".
  4. Kent Cricket League 2015 Handbook
  5. Kent Cricket League 2000 Handbook
  6. Kent Cricket League 2001 Handbook
  7. Kent Cricket League 2002 Handbook
  8. "Premier 1st XI - 2002: Table".
  9. "Premier 1st XI - 2003: Table".
  10. "Premier 1st XI - 2004: Table".
  11. "Premier 1st XI - 2005: Table".
  12. "Premier 1st XI - 2006: Table".
  13. "Premier 1st XI - 2007: Table".
  14. "Premier 1st XI - 2008: Table".
  15. "Premier 1st XI - 2009: Table".
  16. "Premier 1st XI - 2010: Table".
  17. "Premier 1st XI - 2011: Table".
  18. "Premier 1st XI - 2012: Table".
  19. "Premier 1st XI - 2013: Table".
  20. "Premier 1st XI - 2014: Table".
  21. "Premier 1st XI - 2015: Table".
  22. "Premier 1st XI - 2016: Table".
  23. "Premier 1st XI - 2017: Table".
  24. "Premier 1st XI - 2018: Table".
  25. "Premier 1st XI - 2019: Table".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.