History of the North East Premier League

The concept of Premier League cricket was first raised in the McLaurin Report, ‘Raising the Standard, published in 1997. The fundamental principle of which, was that the most ambitious and talented players play with and against each other over a longer format of the game in high profile, highly competitive matches at the best grounds.

In 1998, with this aim in mind, the combined boards of Durham and Northumberland courted applications from clubs in both counties to form a Regional Premier League. After what must have been much deliberation the following twelve clubs were invited to form the North East Regional Premier League: Benwell Hill, Bishop Auckland, Chester le Street, Darlington, Durham Academy, Gateshead Fell, Jesmond (later to become Newcastle), Norton, Stockton, Sunderland, South Northumberland and Tynemouth. Unfortunately, due to the intransigence of the North Yorkshire & South Durham League both Bishop Auckland and Darlington were forced to decline the invitation and Blaydon were invited to join the league in their place. Finally, after receiving accreditation from the ECB the league was formed at Durham County Cricket Club in 1999. During the first two seasons eleven clubs competed for the first and second division championships with Philadelphia joining the league for the 2002 season.

The inaugural league champions were Sunderland who thanks to 54 wickets from West Indian test bowler Cameron Cuffy took the title with Durham Academy finishing second 38 points behind. In 2001, Chester le Street were the outstanding team in the league reaching the Banks Salver final and winning the league with Benwell Hill second and Blaydon third for the second successive season.

The 2002 season saw a strong Benwell Hill side go one better than 2001 winning the league title by a 31 point margin from their nearest rivals South Northumberland with Sunderland third and newcomers Philadelphia fourth. In 2003 South Northumberland were the League Champions after an unbeaten season in which former Durham and Nottinghamshire batsman, Chris Hewison broke the league run scoring record. Inaugural champions, Sunderland took both the Banks Salver and Banks Bowl.

The 2004 season saw South Northumberland become the first team to retain the League Championship in addition to winning the second division.