NORTH-WEST pioneers of the England & Wales Cricket Board's vision for the future of club cricket are the Murray Smith Cheshire County League, who have been officially accredited as a Premier League for the 1999 season starting on Saturday, April 17th. As ever, a step ahead of their regional rivals, the County League are the first outside Birmingham and Kent to be awarded such status by Lord's, having got their act together over a two-year period with a specially qualified senior division, together with a pyramid of feeder leagues below them.

The 12 clubs who earned premier status by finishing at the top of an enlarged qualifying tournament last season are Alsager, Bowdon, Brooklands, Cheadle Hulme, Chester Boughton Hall, Didsbury, Hyde, Macclesfield, Neston, Oxton, Toft and Widnes, all of whom will receive 1,000 pound grants direct form the ECB. This will help them cover the additional expense involved in playing a longer game of 120 overs with wickets pitched at 12:30pm for the majority of the season. All Premier grounds have had to reach ECB criteria governing the size of grounds, quality of pitches, covers, sightscreens and practise facilities. There are to be three breaks in play: for 30 minutes two hours after the start; 10 minutes between innings; and for 15 minutes 25 overs into the second innings. This will give players, umpires and scorers the breathers they will undoubtedly need with many games expected to last up to seven hours.

The principal idea behind premier league is to give batsmen, including those in the middle order, a genuine chance to build an innings, to encourage spin bowlers and to rid the top echelon of club cricket of the 'Crash Bang' stuff which has handicapped the career of many an up and coming youngster who are expected to be encouraged by this sort of game. Although some clubs have expressed concern about the early starts, it is hoped this will not deter family men from taking part although, if the new-style cricket is clearly not working, the league have promised to reassess the whole situation in October.

The league will be enlarged in 1999 by the acquisition of Ashton-on-Mersey and Stockport Georgians from the Manchester Association and both will go into a new 12-strong Second Division, which will feed into a First Division comprising a further 14 clubs, with promotion and relegation applying between each division, although clubs with premier ambitions will need to have an 'A' graded ground.

The full Cheshire pyramid will begin to take shape in season 2000 when an estimated 30 clubs will be entering the system from the county's fringe leagues to join either the Meller Braggins Cheshire League or the Oxbridge Cheshire Alliance. While each league will retain its own autonomy, promotion and relegation will apply between each, although, once again, the grounds of aspiring promotion clubs will need to adhere to a certain set of criteria. Cheshire County League Chairman David Humpage doubles up as Chairman of the Cheshire Cricket Board's Clubs Cricket Committee, which has been the body responsible for encouraging clubs to join the pryamid. Says David: ``It's been a really exciting development and we have been delighted at the response from clubs wishing to come and join us. Ideally we would like all Cheshire clubs, both senior and junior, to join us and perhaps they will in time when they see the success of the system. By the season 2000, there will be more than 120 clubs in the pyramid giving the humblest village teams a chance to rise to the top. It is bound to raise the standards of play and of grounds in the county and we are only too happy to be acting as guinea pigs for the ECB in the region.''