The birth of the Premier League

Paul Bedford is the head of operations for all non first-class cricket

The ECB Premier Leagues began following the creation of the England and Wales Cricket Board in 1997.

The Premier Leagues were part of the MacLaurin Review, named after the former ECB chairman who considered that counties would suffer from a lack of funding, forcing them to operate with smaller playing staffs and cherry-picking the cream from the local leagues to supplement their full-time professionals.

The Premier Leagues were brought in to provide a high level of competition, ensuring that the gap between club and county cricket was not too severe.

The most significant change in many cases was halving the number of teams in the top league which meant the best teams played each other twice, home and away. Criteria for accreditation for clubs also ensured a better level of cricket, with facilities having to meet a certain standard and pitches needing to be covered.

However, a change in the financial outlook provided counties with revenue and they were able to expand their squads. The need to trawl the Premier Leagues for talent became less of an issue but playing in a Premier League is still widely regarded as a significant part of a young player’s development.

"It provides an environment for players to be tested," said ECB's head of operations for non first-class cricket Paul Bedford. "The Premier League provides an environment for players to develop and coaches will take note if a young player who is not contracted begins to perform well. These players may then be chosen to represent their league side or may be chosen for Minor Counties or county 2nd XIs further developing skills in three-day and one-day cricket."

The Birmingham and District League was the first to gain Premier League status. Initially the format of cricket differed widely between leagues - the Kent League experimented with two-day grade cricket while 50-over timed matches were trialled elsewhere. All matches were ‘time matches’ rather than of a limited-overs nature.

"Initially it was felt that players got a better opportunity to develop in the ‘time match’ environment rather than in the limited overs format but with county staff sizes becoming larger, county age-group cricket and three-day cricket available in Minor County and 2nd XI the limited-over option is becoming more valuable to player development especially as the match is played over one day," added Bedford.