The Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League fixtures have been released for the 2024 season and in this article, there’s teams, opening weekend fixtures and some early transfer news.
Premier League
Bradford & Bingley
Cleckheaton
Farsley
Jer Lane
Methley
New Farnley
Ossett
Pudsey Congs
Pudsey St Lawrence
Townville
Undercliffe
Woodlands
Woodlands Cricket Club are the team to beat as the club who have now won four Bradford League titles in a row, as well as being crowned the top Premier League club of Yorkshire two seasons running. (They defeated Sheffield Collegiate in the 2023 Play-Off Final at New Farnley).
Brad Schmulian is expected to return to Albert Terrace to captain them again after his season of first-class cricket in New Zealand.
Photo: Ray Spencer
New Farnley finished in second place but 22 points behind with Townville third, some 50 points off the champions when the umpires called time on the 2023 campaign.
There was a significant gap between the top three Bradford Premier League sides and the chasing pack so it will be interesting to watch how clubs recruit and we’ve picked out a few early moves from October.
Cam Fletcher may not return to New Farnley after a stellar season that saw him picked for county cricket, while Lee Goddard is moving to Woodhouse Grange.
Townville have signed Chris Holliday from Hoylandswaine while I spotted that Methley have re-signed seamer Jared Warner who returns to Yorkshire after his contract with Gloucestershire wasn’t renewed.
At the other end of the table, Hanging Heaton and Bankfoot were relegated and replacing them are Cleckheaton and Undercliffe.
Opening Weekend
Some mouth-watering match-ups to kick off the Bradford Premier League season in 2024 see champions Woodlands travel to Bradford Park Avenue in April.
Jer Lane came out as victors by just two runs that day off the back of 94 from Kyme Tahirkheli and then Israr Ullah (3-26).
Jer Lane have since bolstered their first-team squad with Yasir Ali from Methley and Hamzah Iqbal from Bankfoot.
Elsewhere, Undercliffe and Cleckheaton begin their return to Premier League cricket with away matches against Ossett and New Farnley respectively.
Undercliffe have signed Sharoon Siraj as their overseas player for 2024; he recently hit his maiden first-class hundred in Pakistan for Multan.
Other squads will no doubt be freshened in the coming months, as well as the all-important step of retaining key players too.
Saturday 20 April 2024
(12.30pm start)
🏏 Farsley vs Methley
🏏 Jer Lane vs Woodlands
🏏 New Farnley vs Cleckheaton
🏏 Ossett vs Undercliffe
🏏 Pudsey Congs vs Townville
🏏 Pudsey St Lawrence vs Bradford & Bingley
For a full guide, week by week of all divisions of the Bradford Premier League (which seems to be easier to navigate than Play-Cricket it has to be said), you can check out the league website’s League Fixture Guide.
Good luck to all clubs and I’ll do more features on leagues, previews and transfers across Yorkshire in the months to come.
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