Premier cricket - the way forward?
by Alan Rowley, 11th December 2002

With the close season now well upon us and nothing much of note to discuss, I thought I would put forward my own personal views about how I would like to see local cricket structured. These are purely my views and are not on any official agenda.

Speaking solely from a local cricket supporters point of view, I would like to see Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire work towards amalgamating their respective Premier Leagues. I feel that this will result in far more entertaining, less predictable and more competitive local cricket. Cricket in this league would be of the very highest standard and a great place to blood young up-and-coming cricketers prior to taking the giant leap into county cricket.

If you would believe local opponents of Premier League cricket, you would think that players are leaving the league in droves because of the length of the game. Also, several teams are quoted as being "not interested in Premier League cricket". I don't believe this to be the case and I think that Premier League cricket is the way forward, despite the current poll on Sting In The Tail suggesting that the Premier League hasn't made cricket a better experience since it started in 1999.

So how would a new Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Premier League be structured?

At the end of the season, prior to the new league starting, the top six clubs from the two Premier Leagues would go forward to the new league. The bottom six clubs in each Premier League would form a Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Inter-County League. This league would act as a feeder league to the Premier League with a 2-up, 2-down promotion / relegation structure.

The current Derbyshire County Cricket League would act as a feeder league for the Inter-County League with the champions of this league being promoted. The current Bassetlaw and South Notts League should amalgamate to form a Nottinghamshire County Cricket League, which would act as a feeder from the Nottinghamshire side. This league can be split into north and south divisions like the Derbyshire County League. The new structure would look like this ...

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Premier League
2-up2-down
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Inter County League
1-up		1-up
Nottinghamshire County League (North / South)		Derbyshire County League (North / South)

With this structure in place, travel in the two County Leagues would be kept to a minimum, therefore reducing the length of the cricketer's day. Only teams in the Premier League and Inter-County League would be faced with significant distances to travel, but with the M1 splitting the two counties, is this really a problem?

Will it work?

Well, that's my idea of the way forward for local cricket in the two counties. Will it work? From a supporters point of view, it certainly would. From a players point of view - well, I'll leave that to you.