Winchester KS CC - the club that produced Hampshire seamer Billy Taylor - has resigned from the Southern Electric Premier League with immediate effect.

Formerly based at River Park, Winchester KS is still affiliated to the Hampshire cricket Board and will continue to run evening, indoor and colts sides but has decided to step down from division three of the SPL after struggling to field Saturday sides on a consistent basis.

Last year they scrapped their Hampshire League-based second XI and two years ago they were demoted after struggling to meet the league's youth accreditation criteria.

Secretary, player and former first team captain said: "We have struggled to field competitive sides in recent seasons, particularly in August, when a lot of our players tend to go on holiday with their young families.

"It's become increasingly hard to fulfil our fixtures, let alone put out competitive teams at what is a crucial stage in the season so we felt it was best to resign from the league now rather than face problems later this year.

"When we have had all our players available we are competitive but if three or four of them are unavailable on the same weekend we struggle and that's not fair on other teams in the league.

"Most of our players have young families now, it's not like it was a few years ago when they used to eat, drink and sleep cricket. I don't think we're going to be the last club to have to do this."

Winchester KS hope to continue to compete in the ECB Indoor Championships, which they won in 1995, as well as those other tournaments that do not conflict with players' family commitments.

But their resignation from the SPL marks the end of an era.

Since switching its name from Hyde Ramblers to Winchester in 1980 the club that has been involved in a succession of mergers, the most recent being with Botley Krakatoa Sammarians, in 1993, when they ran five sides on a Saturday.

Winchester won the old Southern League Championship in 1988 and again, this time with a 100 per cent record, in 1995.

But playing on a council owned ground has not helped their cause.

Former secretary, captain and chairman Phil Green has been involved with the club since 1982.

He said: "We haven't had the backing that we would have liked from Winchester City Council, which has failed to deliver the promises it has made, but we have to hold our hands up as well.

"We didn't do enough in the 1980's to recruit the best young talent in the Winchester area, we relied on attracting the best players because of who we and other sides have caught up with us as a result.

"You would like to think that the city team would survive but it's been a downward spiral for the last few years and it's very sad that it's come to this.

"Knowing that we haven't got the facilities to play Gold league cricket, even if we were to be promoted, has not helped.

"In hindsight we should have done this a couple of years ago, when we still had our silver league status."

The SPL Division 3 will operate with 17 clubs this summer, with scheduled opponents getting a 'free day' when scheduled to play Winchester KS.

The fixtures for the entire Premier and Hampshire League pyramid were published in the late autumn and the SPL has no plans to make any changes at this relatively late stage.

Around half a dozen of the club's players are expected to continue playing in the SPL for various clubs this summer while Billy Taylor, who made his first team debut for Winchester KS at the age of 16, hopes to be a regular for Hampshire in his first season with his home county.