A NEW competition will get underway this Saturday as the Berkshire, Mid Bucks and Chilterns League Championship begins.

The division has taken the top five teams from the Berkshire and Chiltern Leagues to create the competition, which will be played with a 52-48 overs format.

Crowthorne & Crown Wood are among the sides taking part, along with fellow former BCL sides West Reading, Peppard Stoke Row, Ruislip Victoria and Welford Park.

The Chilterns League contingent is made up of Penn & Tylers Green, Braywood, Harpsden, Leyhill and Chalfont St Giles.

Below the Championship Division, the Berkshire League begins this Saturday, with sponsorship once again coming from Wintech Sports. The champions of the Premier Division will be promoted into the Championship for 2019.

In the BCL there will be 38 teams from 18 clubs in four divisions.

The new admissions are Wokingham 6ths and Earley 2nds, while the Premier Division is made up of Sandhurst, Woodcote, Woodley, Farley Hill, Ibis Mapledurham, Goring, Checkendon, Mortimer West End and Berkshire County Sports.

The league committee has been proactive during the close-season particularly in developing the proficiency of captains, umpires and scorers.

A number of seminars were held, led by chairman Eddie Lunn, with a particular emphasis on the new version of the Laws of Cricket.

The league has vacancies for qualified umpires on its panel which operates in the Championship Division.

Anyone interested should contact the League Secretary, Sam Peates by email at secretary@thebcl.org Speaking ahead of the season, Lunn said: “I wish all clubs well for the 2018 season. This is going to be a really exciting season, with plenty to play for throughout the divisions.

“It will be particularly interesting to see what happens in the Championship when Chilterns teams play against BCL teams.”

l ONE Division Two game was played last weekend ahead of the official start of the season, with Shinfield 2nds beating Warfield by six wickets.

Saket Koti (3-25) and Rehaan Samdani (3-30) did the damage as Warfield were bowled out for 104, before Suneet Basra’s quick-fire 43 from just 30 balls carried Shinfield to victory in 24.3 overs.