The West of England Premier League (WEPL) is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 in the West of England

West of England

The West of England is a loose and locationally unspecific term sometimes given to the area surrounding the city and county of Bristol, England, and also sometimes applied more widely and in other parts of South West England.-Use in the Bristol area:...

 and is a designated ECB

England and Wales Cricket Board

The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...

 Premier League

ECB Premier Leagues

In 1997 the ECB published "Raising the Standard", the ECB Management Board Blueprint for the Future Playing Structure of cricket. This introduced the concept of ECB Premier Leagues, designed to raise the playing standard of the top tier of club cricket and to bridge the gap between recreational...

.

Since its inception in 1999, the most successful club has been Bath

Bath Cricket Club

Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...

, having won the Premier One title on six occasions. The only other team to have won the title on more than one occasion is Taunton St Andrews, who added to their 2001 title by winning the competition in 2009.

Structure

The WEPL covers the counties of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire 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....

 and Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, and is the top tier of the pyramid structure of leagues in the area. The league has eight divisions, with the top two, Premier One and Premier Two, covering the entire region, and the remainder covering more localised areas.



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
• Gloucestershire - Gloucestershire County Cricket League
• Wiltshire - Wiltshire County Cricket League
  Wiltshire County Cricket League
  The Wiltshire County Cricket League is the feeder league for the Wiltshire section of the West of England Premier League . It has 8 divisions with a promotion/relegation system between those divisions. The winner of Division One is promoted into WEPL...
  
  

Winners

Year	Premier One Champions
2010	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
2009	Taunton St Andrews Cricket Club
2008	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
2007	Frocester Cricket Club
2006	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
2005	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
2004	Cheltenham Cricket Club Cheltenham Cricket Club Cheltenham Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire first envisioned in 1891. It played its first game on June 21, 1897 against a picked XI of WG Grace. The club's first team plays in the West of England Premier League which is an accredited ECB Premier...
2003	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
2002	Keynsham Cricket Club
2001	Taunton St Andrews Cricket Club
2000	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
1999	Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...