CRAVEN League champions Crossflatts will be joining the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League for the 2021 season.

They will play in Division Three and will fill the vacancy created by Oulton's decision to join the Pontefract & District League.

League chairman David Young said: "We are delighted to welcome Crossflatts and we hope they will enjoy a long and happy association with the league.

"They are an ambitious club who demonstrated to us that they have the desire to continue the progress they have shown on and off the field in the past five years."

Young added: "At the same time, we are sad to see Oulton leave us, but we wish them well and hope they are successful in their new league."

Crossflatts official Lee Bailey said: "We're very excited as a club to be embarking on a new adventure by joining the Bradford Premier League for the 2021 season.

"The last five years have seen continued progression both on and off the field at the club. This move allows us the new challenge we were seeking on the field and will help us to continue developing all aspects of the club.

"We are particularly relishing the prospect to compete against and visit new clubs and also to welcome new opposition to Ryshworth Park."

Bailey, who is the club's second team captain, added: "We know the Bradford Premier League will be a step up in standard and quality of cricket, this is something we hope to quickly acclimatise to.

"We have a good junior set up and we are hoping to see some of these exciting youngsters coming through take to the field in Crossflatts colours soon, as we continue to build towards the future with young local talent.

"The club hopes to further expand the junior section in the coming years to ensure we offer cricket to local children at every available age group.

"Off the field, we have recently had planning permission granted for a brand new two-lane practice facility, so completion of this before the 2021 season will be a priority.

"We also have plans to further improve our clubhouse with new toilets, which will also provide disabled access."

Last season saw Crossflatts complete the Craven League and Wynn Cup double.

They also reached the Keighley Cup final, where they lost to Keighley on DLS, and the regional final of the National Village Cup, where they were beaten by eventual Lord's finalists Houghton Main.

After two successive promotions in 2017 and 2018, their second XI claimed their highest ever league position in 2019, by finishing third in Division Two.

"We would like to place on record our thanks to the Craven & District Cricket League for the last 15 years of cricket we spent with them," added Bailey.

"We've had a thoroughly enjoyable time over the years, making many friends both on and off the pitch. We wish Peter Foster, the rest of the executive committee and all clubs every continued success."

Crossflatts were awarded Clubmark in 2018 and purchased their ground from UKAR with an interest free loan from the ECB in 2019.

They formed a junior section four years ago and now have over 100 junior members. In addition to running All Stars, they have sides at Under-9, Under-11 and Under-13 level.

They were due to launch girls and women's cricket, plus Dynamos, this summer at Ryshworth Park, but unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic may have delayed those plans until 2021.