Adelaide Hills Cricket (HCA, TVCA & A&EH)

[jackpot jim]

Sad times for hills sport, and the TVCA in particular, with the passing of Trevor Graeber on the weekend.
An institution and such a revered figure for anyone who grew up playing in the Torrens Valley.

Sad to hear this. When I was young TG used to umpire a lot of our matches. Was always keen for a chat afterwards and encouraged the young guys.

Never had a lot to do with him apart from a few chats on the phone when he was after cricket info down my way.
Met him a few times. Seemed a really nice bloke that was genuinely interested in anything you had to say about cricket.

[jackpot jim]

I think you will find SInka's is heavily committed to work during the TDU.

Anyway good to see a weakened HCA still take out the shield, has to be close to the best Country comp in the state.

Most Association teams are rarely near Full strength at the best of times let alone when its played on KI.
It is what it is and Hills generally perform better than the other associations so well done.
Close to the best Country Comp in the state? Maybe? Who Knows, pretty hard to compare i guess ?
Hills may have some good players in their league like most Comps BUT nothing beats playing in an Association that has some decent turf pitches to play on instead of that matting crap which is all the Hills have.

[jackpot jim]

Finally with Meyer shield out of the way we can finally play some cricket. Here are my predicitions for this week. Langhorne Creek Vs Lobey; Well the question is can Langhorne Creek carry some of their T20 form into the Proper Cricket. Big game this for Lobey They Missed a chance to go 1 game clear of Strath after losing to Ashbourne, They wouldnt want to lose again with Nairne breathing down there neck as well. Langhorne's Will miss Johnson a lot, and i just cant see them defeating Lobey this week. Lobey comfortably. Woodside Vs Ashbourne. This in My opinion is a massive game and if Woodside win they pretty much seal a finals berth. Ashbourne on the other hand, if they win this they all of a sudden have a chance as well. I've always thought Woodsides batting is there issue, but they have seemed to fix this. Ashbourne have guys with Talent, can they cause an upset? I dont think so Woodside in good touch. Woodside Comfortably. Strath Vs Wistow; Well goodluck Wistow, This will be a smashing, i cant say it any other way. After the Outright earlier in the year and rumours about some carry on from some wistow lads, Strath will have a field day. Strath to Much quality and depth, Wistow have Kinlough thats about it with the bat. If Wistow are any chance they need Nettle to fire early. Strath will be thinking a lot of points here. Strath to win by a lot.

Creeks v Lobey. Creeks are undefeated at home this season and cant see why this wont stay the same after Saturday. Apart from missing Warren this week, Creeks should be close to full strength, Johnson leaves next week. A simple dropped catch, a brain fade shot and a RH due to a fractured cheekbone cost the Creeks a win against Lobey earlier in season. Lobey have done well thus far but i feel they may start to lose the close ones now instead of wining them.
Tip - Creeks to WIN

Woodside v Bulls Hard to pick. Ashbourne got the chocolates in their 2 day day encounter earlier in the season on their home turf and should enter the game full of confidence coming of their win over lobethal. Woodside have been in some good form since with a win over Strath and Nairne and also a 1 run loss to Nairne. Their other scheduled games were a wash out when in a winning position against Wistow and a bush fire out against Lobey.
Tip - Woodside narrowly only because of the home ground.

Strath v Wistow. Wistow got flogged by the Creeks at their last outing and i cant see this result being much different for them unfortunately.
Tip - Strath by 150 +

[Dutchy]

I think you will find SInka's is heavily committed to work during the TDU.

Anyway good to see a weakened HCA still take out the shield, has to be close to the best Country comp in the state.

Most Association teams are rarely near Full strength at the best of times let alone when its played on KI.
It is what it is and Hills generally perform better than the other associations so well done.
Close to the best Country Comp in the state? Maybe? Who Knows, pretty hard to compare i guess ?
Hills may have some good players in their league like most Comps BUT nothing beats playing in an Association that has some decent turf pitches to play on instead of that matting crap which is all the Hills have.

Yes but that HCA team is virtually unrecongnisable from previous years and is missing many walk up starts.

Personally Id rather play in a comp that has grounds with one surface and not a mixture of both which brings weather heavily into the equation.

[Roxy the Rat Girl]

I quite like the idea of different playing surfaces so a to test the skill of players a bit more. With turf you get that variation. Weather can come into the equation equally with matting where there are some grounds with stick down matting and some with roll out. In any case the rain is often patchy so some matches are played whilst others are rained off in the same week.

[Roxy the Rat Girl]

I think Creeks will do pretty well on their home ground and as Jackpot said they have not lot there all year. I reakon Creeks might just get over the line in a close match.

Ashbourne V Woodside. This should be another good match. both teams are about even with wins over the past few years and they have had some good encounters in recent times. Im tipping Ashbourne in a tight one as they have too much to play for with their season on the line.

Strath will easily defeat Wistow. I hope it won't come to pass but I think it will after Wistow's massive loss to Creeks last game and Strath looking to secure top spot.

[batmanbegins]

Another Important round of cricket coming up in the HCA in the next fortnight;

Lofty V Aldgate- Lofty need this win with flaggies next game and then the bye in the last round, so a must win to keep teams like aldgate and uraidla at bay for that 4th spot. However for aldgate it is a must win if they want to keep their finals aspirations alive, hard to see lofty losing as sinclair and healey are in good form with the bat and even though lofty struggle with depth in their bowling they should have no troubles accounting for Aldgates batting baring englishman corbett or young clements going berserk. Sinclair to have a field day with bat and ball, lofty to win comfortably and maintain control of that 4th spot.

Uraidla V Stirling- Important game as both teams must win to keep their slim finals hopes alive, gonzalez coming of a player of the tournament meyer shield is the key for the Lings batting line up, basically you get him out cheap and its hard to see them making more than 150. If van paridon, shaw and forbes play for stirling their bowling is much improved and will challenge uraidla's stars but you get a feeling Dyl brown is due for a huge score after an average start to the year which will lead uraidla to a win, plus i think uraidla have a strong bowling line up to contain gonzalez they just need to keep their extras down as they bowl far to many wides. Uraidla just but should be a cracker.

Scibs V Flaggies- Match of the round should be a cracker, Flaggies coming of a wonderful win over meadows should be full of confidence but Scibbies are a good side and just keep on winning. Flaggies appear to have depth in their bowling with petty and goulding leading the way and if they have a weak point it may be their batting but thats just nitpicking as they have been superb season long on both aspects. However Scibs skipper Mcgowan would be looking forward to wrecking more havoc on flaggies batting as well as coach tarque but the problem with scibbies is their batting and i think it may struggle against flaggies bowling, unless tarque or behn can get going. Flaggies by a whisker.

Happy V Kangys- Happy's should favour themselves at home against kangys, turnbull would be hoping to get a few more wickets to add to his ever growing tally and middleton would be hoping to make some more runs as he is their key with the bat but kangys would be optimistic of causing an upset as they have improved as of late and their batting is certainly stronger than Happy's who are incredibly weak batting wise baring middleton and featherstone would be licking his lips at their line up and i reckon he will tear through them to cause the upset. Kangys suprisingly comfortably.

[jackpot jim]

Well i was spot on with the 3 winners in A&EHCA, Creeks, Woodside and Strath.
Only thing i was slightly off with was the margin of the Strath win. Predicted 150+ but was only 139
Strath Flogged Wistow as expected on the back of a 133 by Mark Abbott
Strath 5/222 Def Wistow 83

Ashbourne have seemingly blown any chance of playing Finals by faltering to Woodside, just not being able to put a competitive score on the board batting 1st. Not batting out the 40 overs (Only 36.5) generally doesn't get the job done and this was no exception.
Woodside 5/191 def Ashbourne 157

Creeks at last showing the potential they have by defeating Top of the table team Lobethal in the battle of the Tigers on the Creeks home turf.
Some wayward bowling by Johnson and again some shoddy fielding in the catching department allowed Lobey to eek out 9/136 off their 40 overs. Weeks top scoring with 33 after being put down on 0.
Losing early wickets never allowed Lobey the luxury of taking too many risks to up the anti against a tight Creek bowling attack.
Johnson for the Creek cruised to his usual run a ball 50 to set the Creeks on the winning path and despite a few hiccups along the way that kept Lobey in with a sniff, the Creeks finally limped past their score 7 wickets down with 5 overs to spare.
Creeks 148 Def Lobey 9/136

The wash up of those results has pretty much set the Final 4 in stone with just the order to be determined.
Lobeys consecutive losses to 2 "Out of the 4 " sides shows how even the A Grade comp is bar Wistow and as a result has seem them lose top spot to Strath who i expect to stay there for the rest of the season. Lobey back down to 2nd and i expect them to fall to 3rd by seasons end. Woodside im tipping to stay in 4th spot. Ive heard Nairne have upped the Anti with their training as they havent been happy with their recent performances and also heard that Shaun Tait will be doing as he did last year and belatedly qualifying for Finals by playing the last 5 weeks.
Ive got no problem with that as the system enables it to happen although some may not see it as 'morally' right? With these factors in mind, i expect them to finish strongly and grab 2nd spot which would again set up for a potential repeat of last years Grand Final played on the Strath turf.

Of the other 3 teams outside the 4, Wistow wont win another game and will finish bottom.
Ashbourne have had their chance to make an impression on the top 4. Would seem to be a team with ability but probably similar to the Creeks in that they just cant maintain the intensity required for the full days play and small lapses here and there cost them vital wins.
Creeks with consecutive wins are within touch but realistically would need a small miracle to make it with games against Strath and Nairne still to come whilst they are now without Johnson for the rest of the season and Warren only available for a match or two. An inexplicable loss to Wistow earlier in the season along with many crucial dropped straight forward catches in other games have cost them dearly as they could have been sitting as high as 2nd or 3rd had they taken their chances. Still from where they have come from the last 2 seasons, they'd have to be mildly satisfied with their return to being a competitive unit at A Grade level again and winning the T20 comp was a good achievement that few saw coming.

Big week coming up next weekend with the A Grade playing one dayers on Sat & Sunday.
Saturday
Strath v Woodside Tip - Strath to avenge their earlier loss to them
Creeks v Nairne Tip - Nairne to avenge their T20 loss to the Creeks. Creeks with no Johnson or Warren to give the Nairne attack headaches this time.
Wistow v Lobethal Tip - Lobethal. Surely couldnt lose to the 3 bottom teams 3 weeks running ????

Sunday
Nairne v Strath Tip - Toss of the coin this one. Will S. Tait play??? Go for Nairne on home ground.
Wistow v Woodside - Tip - Woodside in a Sunday stroll
Ashbourne v Creeks Tip - Creeks will make more than 41 as they did last year in the one dayer there. Very hard to have any idea what sort of side the Creeks may come up with for this match. When in doubt, go for the home team but happy to be wrong. Tip - Ashbourne

[Dutchy]

3 HCA clubs into the Courier Cup Semi's Meadows, Lofty and Uri's with Nairne making up the other spot.

Sounds like semis/final will be held at Meadows on 22nd

[saintal]

Round 11 of the TVCA saw top placed Paracombe thump Birdwood, Gumeracha outclassed Springton, Mt Torrens twice let victory slip in a narrow loss to EV, while Lenswood made hard work of chasing Cambrai’s meagre 69. Two rounds remain. Should be a good finish, with only bottom place decided at this stage.

Paracombe 118 (Cam, EV to come) Two challenging matches to finish
Gumeracha 110 (MtT, Lens) Will be eying at least 1, possibly 2 outrights to move into top spot.
Eden Valley 106 (bye, Para) The most likely team to drop out of the 4, with only 1 match remaining. Batting has deserted them since xmas.
Palmer 103 (Lens, MtT). Like Gum, will fancy their chances for 2 outrights to push for top 2 spot.

Cambrai 92 (Para, Spring) Could rue surprise loss to Lenswood. Probably need to win both to make the 4, or beat Springton outright.
Springton 76 (Bird, Cam) An outright against Birdwood needed to stay in hunt
Mt Torrens 65 (Gum, Palm) A 3 run loss to EV ends any faint finals hope
Lenswood 64 (Palm, Gum) Tough finish, but an 8 run win against Cambrai sign of improvement.
Birdwood 44 (Spring, bye) Another wooden spoon coming up in a disappointing year.

[Ramrod]

Good review Jackpot. Lobey have fallen in a hole and to be honest they were a sniff to finish top, but after two pretty ordinary losses, i cant see them finishing higher than 3rd. Wistow were dead set ordinary looking at the scores, Strath with a big weekend this week, you feel if they win one of them they will finish top. Ashbourne now are no chance to make it and woodside will be trying to build towards another finals series. Nairne are the interesting team, havent been as dominant this year, however they have big time players and i've still got my money on a Strath Nairne grand final.

[jackpot jim]

Wouldn't be too hard on Lobey.
Had done extremely well to be undefeated until the last 2 matches.
2 narrow losses to Creeks and Ashbourne in one dayers is no disgrace.
Just because they're 5th and 6th on the table dont mean they're easybeats.
Lobey have a good young team that will be a force for years to come but probably just lack the match winners in their side that Nairne, Strath and Creeks have.
They could well be back on top after Saturdays round.

[Ramrod]

Wouldn't be too hard on Lobey.
Had done extremely well to be undefeated until the last 2 matches.
2 narrow losses to Creeks and Ashbourne in one dayers is no disgrace.
Just because they're 5th and 6th on the table dont mean they're easybeats.
Lobey have a good young team that will be a force for years to come but probably just lack the match winners in their side that Nairne, Strath and Creeks have.
They could well be back on top after Saturdays round.

I'm not saying there easy beats Jackpot, however Lobey had a massive chance to put some pressure on Nairne and Strath for that top spot. Your right they could be on top after saturdays game, however with the bye on the sunday they will struggle to stay there after sunday. With Strath and Nairne in the last 2 rounds, we will see if they can do any damage come march.

[Ramrod]

Big Couple of Games this week (Saturday). Strath vs Woodside. Match of the round this one and perhaps a preview of the semi final. Cant read to Match into Strath's last win as they werent up against much competition, all i take out of that game is Mark Abbott is in good touch, and Horan must've bowled beautifully. Woodside secured 4th Spot after there win last week over ashbourne, Right now they are one of the form teams in the comp. This will be a close game i think, if Galvin bowls as well as he has been woodside could cause an upset. howveer being on the turf im backing Strath. Langhorne Creek Vs Nairne. Well i think if the creeks had Johnson and Warren, they might be a sniff, however without them and the return of Shaun Tait to the Nairne side, i feel this will be rather comfortable for Nairne. Wistow Vs Lobethal. Well lobey can get there confidence back up here, Wistow are ordinary to say the least, they have lack of bowling and batting. Lobey will have field day on the hill, Wistow will be hoping for it to jump 1 degree otherwise they are in for a long 40 overs in the field.

[batmanbegins]

No close games in the HCA this week but i was 4 out 4 with my tips so thats a posititve, the ladder stands like this at the moment:

Flaggies 55.17- They have lofty then stirling to finish the year, if they beat lofty you would assume they will come top as you would expect them to beat stirling but either way they have basically locked up a home final. Just a very good even side and going to be a big challenge to meadows in the finals.
Meadows 51.97- Will finish top 2 again, not going to lose to happy valley or kangarilla in their last 2 games as they never lose to sides on the lower half of the ladder. Still the team to beat in my opinion just to much talent in their batting but flaggies seem to be a big threat.
Scibs 51.61- bye this week before playing happy valley, assume they will beat happy's at home in the final round to come 3rd and probably play meadows at meadows in the semi final for the second year running. Batting needs to lift as there bowling wont bail them out all the time as shown against meadows and flaggies this year.
lofty 49.50- huge game against flaggies this week before the bye, lose this week and they are a chance of missing the finals if uraidla win their final two. Win and they are assured of a finals spot probably against flaggies. Bowling is thin and can rely to much on sinclair but theit batting is good and will need to be against flaggies.
uraidla 36.81- need to win both against kangys and aldgate (which they most likely will) and rely on either Scibs or Lofty losing their final game to sneak into 4th spot. Their best hope is lofty losing this week which is a big possibility. Batting appears to be hitting its straps with Brown returning to form and the returns of carter and rumbleow plus there bowling has always been quite strong, just need kepa to return to form.
Aldgate 33.64- Play stirling and Uraidla in the final two rounds, would fancy themselves versus stirling but will get outclassed by uraidla. Been competitive all year and will be hoping to end with another win or two.
Happy's- Been hugely disappointing only won once and will most likely stay at that one win as they play meadows and Scibs in the final two games. They have 78 wickets this year by far the most but thats only because their batting has been awful and hasnt batted out a day yet. Losing to kangarilla at home would of been disapointing but if they can cause an upset over meadows or scibs it will give them confidence for next year.
Kangys 30.94- Finally got their first win on the weekend with captain featherstone leading by example. hard finish to the year playing uraidla and meadows which will probably hand them the wooden spoon but been very competitive since players have returned and were unlucky against flaggies and lofty not to win due to weather and other weird circumstances.
Stirling 28.57- Suprised to see them last as they have been good this year but just lost some close ones to lofty and scibs. Reckon they will beat aldgate this week to avoid the spoon if shaw is playing otherwise there bowling is quite average and there batting can rely a bit to much on gonzalez and fryer. Still got some good young talent and are improving all the time.

WIll be a cracking finish to the season to see how the top 5 fit into the top 4 for the finals, my guess is that lofty may be in trouble as i cant see them beating flaggies and i think uraidla will win their final two but will be great to see what happens.

[rainbow warrior]

No close games in the HCA this week but i was 4 out 4 with my tips so thats a posititve, the ladder stands like this at the moment:

Flaggies 55.17- They have lofty then stirling to finish the year, if they beat lofty you would assume they will come top as you would expect them to beat stirling but either way they have basically locked up a home final. Just a very good even side and going to be a big challenge to meadows in the finals.
Meadows 51.97- Will finish top 2 again, not going to lose to happy valley or kangarilla in their last 2 games as they never lose to sides on the lower half of the ladder. Still the team to beat in my opinion just to much talent in their batting but flaggies seem to be a big threat.
Scibs 51.61- bye this week before playing happy valley, assume they will beat happy's at home in the final round to come 3rd and probably play meadows at meadows in the semi final for the second year running. Batting needs to lift as there bowling wont bail them out all the time as shown against meadows and flaggies this year.
lofty 49.50- huge game against flaggies this week before the bye, lose this week and they are a chance of missing the finals if uraidla win their final two. Win and they are assured of a finals spot probably against flaggies. Bowling is thin and can rely to much on sinclair but theit batting is good and will need to be against flaggies.
uraidla 36.81- need to win both against kangys and aldgate (which they most likely will) and rely on either Scibs or Lofty losing their final game to sneak into 4th spot. Their best hope is lofty losing this week which is a big possibility. Batting appears to be hitting its straps with Brown returning to form and the returns of carter and rumbleow plus there bowling has always been quite strong, just need kepa to return to form.
Aldgate 33.64- Play stirling and Uraidla in the final two rounds, would fancy themselves versus stirling but will get outclassed by uraidla. Been competitive all year and will be hoping to end with another win or two.
Happy's- Been hugely disappointing only won once and will most likely stay at that one win as they play meadows and Scibs in the final two games. They have 78 wickets this year by far the most but thats only because their batting has been awful and hasnt batted out a day yet. Losing to kangarilla at home would of been disapointing but if they can cause an upset over meadows or scibs it will give them confidence for next year.
Kangys 30.94- Finally got their first win on the weekend with captain featherstone leading by example. hard finish to the year playing uraidla and meadows which will probably hand them the wooden spoon but been very competitive since players have returned and were unlucky against flaggies and lofty not to win due to weather and other weird circumstances.
Stirling 28.57- Suprised to see them last as they have been good this year but just lost some close ones to lofty and scibs. Reckon they will beat aldgate this week to avoid the spoon if shaw is playing otherwise there bowling is quite average and there batting can rely a bit to much on gonzalez and fryer. Still got some good young talent and are improving all the time.

WIll be a cracking finish to the season to see how the top 5 fit into the top 4 for the finals, my guess is that lofty may be in trouble as i cant see them beating flaggies and i think uraidla will win their final two but will be great to see what happens.

Good summary mate. Should be a good last two rounds.

[old fullback]

Were Langhorne Creek taking the piss in the T20 final I saw a couple of players who haven't donned the whites this season??

[old fullback]

I thought S.Tait was playing with Sturt??

[daysofourlives]

When are the Grand Finals in the various comps? I read on the Footy forum that footy is starting on the 28th March

[saintal]

When are the Grand Finals in the various comps? I read on the Footy forum that footy is starting on the 28th March

March 14/15 for TVCA. We're always the first to finish. I think AEHCA are a week later, HCA maybe 28/29?