Local cricket's longest serving sponsor has extended its record; Darlington Building Society is backing the North Yorkshire and South Durham Premier League for the 14th successive year.

The NYSD Premier League, which got underway in April, consists of 25 teams based throughout the region from Barnard Castle to Redcar, with many teams representing towns which are also homes to branches of Darlington Building Society.

The NYSD Premier League has welcomed a new president this season, Chris West, following the retirement of Ken Gardner.

West and his family have been involved with Stokesley CC for over 100 years and he retired as a player in 1997 having taken 1,800 wickets and scoring over 10,000 runs.

He said: "Having been involved in a number of early sponsorship discussions in the 1990's, it was a great source of pleasure to me, upon being elected as president, to know that Darlington Building Society is continuing its unstinting support of the League.

"I think it must be some sort of a record in local sports sponsorship that sees our association now extending into its 14th year."

He continued: "I believe that the two organisations are brand leaders in the North-East in their respective fields and as such, perfectly complement each other.

"Both play an extremely valuable and active role in the community. In each and every club in our League there is an unsung and often unseen army of volunteers who administer and facilitate the game, often working long, unpaid hours without recognition, and yet their contribution to their town and surrounding community is immeasurable."

David Copland, marketing and communications manager at Darlington Building Society responded: "I appreciate Chris' kind comments concerning our long association with the league. Darlington Building Society is dedicated to looking after local interests and we feel that supporting local sport is a tangible demonstration of that dedication.

"For the past 13 years we have cherished our association with the NYSD Premier Cricket League and we look forward to another exciting season."