Shropshire Cricket League

The Shropshire Cricket League was the biggest club cricket league for clubs in Shropshire prior to being wound up at the end of the 2011 season. Its history stretched back to the 1960s. It was succeeded by the Shropshire County Cricket League.

The 1st XI winners of Division 1 of the league were promoted (along with their 2nd XI) to the Shropshire Premier Cricket League.

The Shropshire Cricket League, sponsored by solicitors FBC Manby Bowdler LLP, provided meaningful cricket for virtually all the county sides with the exception of the leading 21 clubs and their 2nd XIs, who play in higher leagues.

In its last season, 2011, the SCL comprised its usual seven divisions, involved 53 clubs, and again encompassed 90 teams. Promotion and relegation linked all sections and at least two sides went up through Divisions 2–7. Singleton and reserve sides moved independently through the divisions and were not tied to the fortunes of any senior XIs, although they were not eligible for first division membership.

Division One annually fed its champions (and its 2nd XI) into the Shropshire Premier League and so contained only clubs that possessed reserve side(s) and full facilities. The relegation of the SPL bottom club (and its 2nd XI) applied if the SPL deem it appropriate to their needs.

All divisions contained 12 sides except for Division Seven, which usually contained more (18 again this year) to cater for suitable new applicants. All seventh section sides played a full round of fixtures (22), with return games applying for cases of geographical proximity. It was league policy to introduce newly created or newly reformed teams in this bottom section, while existing clubs/teams accepted for membership were placed in a higher division.

The final version of the SCL went back to the 1971 season when a group of 10 pioneer clubs – three of which were still in the league in 2011 – operated in a single division alongside (but never against) a small collection of clubs that were to be part of the group that exclusively comprised the top section from 1972–96. These "lower division" numbers dipped then finally rose to 12 for the first time in 1975. Another division was formed in 1976 and this proved a springboard for the league to expand hugely after this.

Since the end of the 1996 season, the League was run by a Management Committee which comprised 19 officio and ex officio members. This replaced the Executive Committee, which was established following a contentious AGM for the 1972 season in which an exclusive leading division of 12 clubs was set up (with the mirror-image 2nd XI section) that stayed in existence for an overall 27 seasons at the top of the county structure.

This in turn had come about because league cricket in the county had existed only for a fragmented minority, but officials saw it as important to establishing a strong county side and finally persuaded a full hand of leading clubs to commit to it. Opposition to league cricket prevailed around this time because it was viewed as being potentially over-competitive, and would also mean the loss of traditional fixtures. That view quickly changed in ensuing years, but at the key meeting some clubs opted out while others missed the cut – and once the 12 were established, their door remained firmly shut and subsequent applications in future years to join this main group were always rejected. Most of the disappointed clubs joined other leagues.

The Executive Committee of this era therefore governed a loosely unified "two-leagues-in-one" set-up containing alternative attitudes and some differing rules. It was essentially dominated by representatives of the top-flight clubs, who had a constitutional advantage in numbers and whose views were soon to conflict with the reps from the burgeoning mainstream section who believed in integration and equality. Ongoingly turbulent times became inevitable because both sets of clubs were looking in different cricketing directions.

The improvement of facilities gradually increased along with pressure for unification at the top level, especially after the Border Counties League clubs (who had set up their own league many years earlier in protest at the closed shop) joined the League virtually en bloc in 1992. A couple of acrimonious EGMs highlighted the discontent among the "also-rans", while from 1986 there was an annual vote among the Executive members in deciding whether the mainstream champions should replace the elite's bottom club, but despite some close calls – including two casting votes by the chairman – this never happened.

Nevertheless, the escalating controversy over the apartheid status meant change looked increasingly certain sooner or later, especially after the premier clubs lost their constitutional right to a representative majority, so they broke away to form the SPL at the end of the 1996 season, thus finally curtailing many years of unsuccessful lobbying by the rank-and-file clubs.

By coincidence the integration between the SCL and the still-new SPL finally became a reality two years later, owing everything to the SPL clubs' decision at the end of the 1998 season to forge their own links with the Birmingham League in line with the newly established national pyramid systems of that time.

On 23 May 2011, following a second abortive attempt within two years to attract new clubs and form a second division, the SPL clubs voted overwhelmingly to amalgamate the leagues from the start of the 2012 season.

Previous league winners that have been promoted to the Shropshire Premier League division 1 are noted below:

References
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