IDLE, one of the longest-serving clubs in The All Rounder Cricket Bradford Premier League, have announced their resignation in a letter that was read out at the league's annual meeting at Cleckheaton Sports Club.

The Cavendish Road club, who have gone through some hard times recently, joined the league in 1906 – three years after it was formed and 17 years after they became Idle CC – and won seven league titles, including three in succession in the mid-1960s, and six Priestley Cups.

Club secretary Stephen Thornton stated in the letter: "Idle Cricket Club has enjoyed playing and supporting the Bradford Cricket League.

"Unfortunately for 2018, we feel that we cannot commit to putting a team out to compete in the league.

"Could you please therefore accept this letter of resignation with immediate effect.

"This decision is owing to the financial standing of Idle Cricket Club.

"With dwindling support, the club has had to make a stand that it could not support the cricket section to the amount that is needed to complete the entire season."

It is understood that the club intends to use their ground as a football pitch.

League chairman David Young told clubs at the annual meeting: "This is a very sad development.

"We have tried to support and help the club but they have decided they cannot go on.

"Losing a cricket club is always a sad moment, particularly one with a long history.

"Their resignation leaves us with 13 clubs in Championship Division Two, and we will be taking a close look at the fixtures and making the necessary changes."

Idle, with its iconic hill that slopes from the pavilion to the square, won the league in 1910, 1916, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1974 and 1977, and the Priestley Cup in 1912, 1923, 1930, 1951, 1965 and 1976.

They also garnered Division Two titles in 1937, 1962, 1989, and were cup runners-up in 1953.

At second-team level, they were league champions in 1910 (doing the league double), 1920 and 1938, while they won Division Two in 1999.

Idle's most iconic player was Sir Jack Hobbs of Surrey and England – one of the greatest players to grace the game – who was the catalyst for their 1916 title success, scoring 784 runs at an average of 56 and taking 59 wickets at 6.57, which was good enough to put him second in both the league's batting and bowling averages.

He played for them in 1915-18 at £5 per match (worth £529.78p in today's money in 1915 but only £318.56 by 1918) plus expenses, and turned down better offers to stay loyal to Idle.

Hobbs scored 61,760 first-class runs, including 199 centuries, and had a Test average of 56.94 from his 5,410 runs.

Other notables to have pulled on an Idle sweater were Wilf Horner, who featured in three decades, Norman Kitson, Yorkshire and England opening bat Doug Padgett, Denis Leng, Sid Smith, Ken Hill, Tony Moore, Mike Bailey, Peter Kippax, Brian Lymbery, David Leatherdale, Ian Dewhirst and brothers Dick and Martin Sherred.

Overseas players to have starred for Idle were New Zealanders Stewie Dempster and Aaron Bradley, Pakistanis Hassan Adnan, Mohammed Hafeez and Ijaz Ahmed, India's JP Yadav and Sri Lankan Dinusha Fernando.

However, despite a strong junior set-up in the past two decades, recent seasons have been hampered by vandalism, burglaries, falling bar trade and general financial problems.