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

[jackpot jim]

Hills took out the Meyer Shield Final today against Great Southern at Kangarilla for their 6th title in 8 years and 8 of the last 12.
Hills made about 3/250 odd. Great Southern tho conserving wickets in their chase fell way behind the run rate due to some tight bowling and never seriously challenged the target before being bowled out for 175 odd when they eventually showed some urgency with the bat.

[saintal]

Courier challenge:

Flagstaff Hill 7/129 def Gumeracha 6/128 with one ball to spare
Nairne 1/240 demolished Strath 51
Woodside 0/102 (off 8 ) belted SCIBs 100
Not sure of Meadows v Paracombe result.

[saintal]

One round remaining in the TVCA. 5 clubs still vying for a finals berth. Countless possibilities given the nature of the final round match-ups and the chances of outrights etc.

Gumeracha (137.1) A closing win against Lenswood should be enough to secure a top 2 spot. Could still miss finals if a lot went against them.
Palmer (131.3) Important win v Gumeracha on Saturday. Should finish season with comfortable win against Birdwood.
Lenswood (126.7) Back to back losses sees them needing to beat Gum to make finals or else will need to rely on other results.
Cambrai (126.2) Thumped Lenswood and should defeat Springton next round. Unlikely to miss finals.

Paracombe (114.6) Missed outright opportunity v Mt Torrens. Nothing less than a big win against EV is required
Eden Valley (92.7) Other results have ruled them out of the finals calculations as they sat out the bye.
Springton (71.2) Recent wins against Mt Torrens and Birdwood will give them some confidence heading into next summer.
Mt Torrens (48.6) Resumed at 5/23 in second dig and batted all day to avoid outright v Pirates in one of the more remarkable recent results.
Birdwood (31.2) The departure of a few regulars would suggest the final round can’t come quick enough for the winless Bulls.

Should be a tight finish for 4th in the B grade, with EV narrowly ahead of Paracombe with two games to go. Mt Torrens are also in the mix.

[saintal]

TVCA Semis this weekend:

Gumeracha v Paracombe. Magpies will obviously start as favs, but Paracombe’s recent form has been impressive.
Palmer v Cambrai. Not much between these two sides, Palmer perhaps to get up in a close one.

Lenswood spent most of the year in the top 4 but will rue 3 straight losses to end the year. Eden Valley were inconsistent at times when key men were missing. Springton got better as the year went on. Mt Torrens only recorded 1 win and struggled with the bat, while winless Birdwood had another challenging year. The Bulls appeared to be on the right track 3 years ago but have just 1 win in the past 2 seasons.

Since Lobethal and Woodside left the league, Gumeracha, Palmer and Paracombe have made the finals all 5 years, while Cambrai have made it in the last 3 years. Whilst the premiership has been shared around in that time, the finals make-up has been largely predicable.

B Grade semis sees Gumeracha v Mt Torrens and Cambrai v Palmer.

Gumeracha haven’t lost since Round 6, while Mt Torrens rely on a handful of guys that should be playing A Grade. Cambrai finished bottom last season and are playing finals for the first time in at least a decade, while Palmer’s form has wavered since Meyer shield break.

[jackpot jim]

Langhorne Creek State Country T20 Champions after defeating South Augusta in todays final at Adelaide Oval
L. Creek 6/159 B Warren 71 off 33 balls
Def
South Augusta 52 J Rothe 3/8, S Golding 3/9

Great result for cricket in this area joining Meadows and Nairne as recent winners of this title

[saintal]

TVCA Grand Finals:

A Grade, Palmer 73 v Gumeracha 1/40ish. Apparently C. Sumner snared 8/not many.
B Grade, Gumeracha 117 tied with Cambrai 117. So under the by-laws both teams are premiers. Not sure how I feel about that. Was a great game/finish.

[jackpot jim]

Nairnes winning run of 7 consecutive Flags has finally come to an end by losing to Strathalbyn in the Semi Final at Nairne today.
Nairne were laborious in limping to 122 on Saturday which is completely against there style.
Strath with 77 overs to makes the 123 required did so JUST being 9 wickets down in the 76th over !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whilst in the other Semi Final, Langhorne Creek would be absolutely kicking themselves after having 3 miserable seasons to rise to 3rd on the table this year and would have hosted the Grand Final if they'd beaten Woodside but whilst posting 187 is not a bad score, the inability of the batsmen to apply themselves to bat out 70 overs certainly cost them with quite a number of "soft" dismissals seeing them dismissed in only 54 overs which isnt good enough.
Woodside took their time with the bat, wearing down the Creek attack taking few risks and on the back of a Dave Wescombe century (110), cruised to 5/189 off 71 overs and another chance to take their 1st A&EHCA flag next week v Strath to be played at Woodside.

[Dutchy]

Mt Lofty wore down Flaggies to make their first HCA GF in 27 years which will be heeld at Kangarilla v Meadows.

[saintal]

TVCA Grand Finals:

A Grade, Palmer 73 v Gumeracha 1/40ish. Apparently C. Sumner snared 8/not many.
B Grade, Gumeracha 117 tied with Cambrai 117. So under the by-laws both teams are premiers. Not sure how I feel about that. Was a great game/finish.

Sunday saw Gumeracha finish on 2/77 to claim the premiership by 8 wickets. Sumner capped off a weekend to remember with 59*

TVCA AGM is on Sunday following the presentation lunch. My money is on two day cricket (unfortunately) within A Grade ranks coming to an end.

[jackpot jim]

TVCA AGM is on Sunday following the presentation lunch. My money is on two day cricket (unfortunately) within A Grade ranks coming to an end.

A&EHCA are looking for another A grade team to make an even 8 if any club in TV want to continue with 2 day cricket.
Unfortunately the 6 clubs in A&EHCA without an A Grade dont look like stepping back up any time soon.

[batmanbegins]

Meadows over SCIBS in the other Semi quite comfortably in the end. Meadows would have been nervous after getting bowled out for 133 but SCIBS weak batting line up struggled and got rolled for 67. Special mention to Daniel Desengo from SCIBs for taking 9 for 42 from 27 overs, Was an incredible effort against one of the strongest batting line ups seen in HCA history.

Sets up a cracker of a match this weekend with lofty, who have tested them and beat them earlier this year. Meadows start as obvious favorites but lofty have plenty of talented players so you never know.

TVCA AGM is on Sunday following the presentation lunch. My money is on two day cricket (unfortunately) within A Grade ranks coming to an end.

A&EHCA are looking for another A grade team to make an even 8 if any club in TV want to continue with 2 day cricket.
Unfortunately the 6 clubs in A&EHCA without an A Grade dont look like stepping back up any time soon.

Can't understand why clubs would want A grade to become a one day competition.

[The Bedge]

Special mention to Daniel Desengo from SCIBs for taking 9 for 42 from 27 overs.

Outrageous!!

[Dutchy]

Great figures considering a final and the opposition, who took the other wicket? Brings back memories of Scott Madsen taking all 10 wickets in an innings for Lofty against Onka's back in the late 90's.

SCIB's would have thought they were a huge show rolling Meadows for such a small score.

Lofty are the one team that have worried Meadows in recent years so will be a great battle this weekend.

[saintal]

TVCA AGM is on Sunday following the presentation lunch. My money is on two day cricket (unfortunately) within A Grade ranks coming to an end.

A&EHCA are looking for another A grade team to make an even 8 if any club in TV want to continue with 2 day cricket.
Unfortunately the 6 clubs in A&EHCA without an A Grade dont look like stepping back up any time soon.

Gumeracha are against all one-dayers and have a relationship already with AEHCA given their juniors play there. Having just won both flags in TVCA they would be best positioned to make the move. Hypothetically of course.

We (Lenswood) would struggle in your comp. The other two clubs preferring two dayers (Paracombe and Eden Valley) fear losing players to the north-eastern suburbs and Barossa respectively.

Cambrai hold the key vote in the matter. Interesting times.

[Corona Man]

TVCA AGM is on Sunday following the presentation lunch. My money is on two day cricket (unfortunately) within A Grade ranks coming to an end.

A&EHCA are looking for another A grade team to make an even 8 if any club in TV want to continue with 2 day cricket.
Unfortunately the 6 clubs in A&EHCA without an A Grade dont look like stepping back up any time soon.

Ok so lets look at the 6 clubs in question here...

Mount Barker - improved this season with Trevor Keen around, but lost to the Nairne seconds in the A2 semi final. Maybe they come up?
Hahndorf - best placed to come up, Hassold a huge in, add the possibility of Jaensch next season.... but they lost to the Woodside seconds in their A2 semi final.
Macclesfield - didn't make finals in A2's, well short of A grade quality
Echunga - finished last in A2's, well short of A grade quality
Finniss - why they were in B grade this season is beyond me, but bowling would be their concern, so a long way off A grade
Callington - will play Finniss in the B Grade final, so one of those clubs SHOULD be up to A2's next season

I did hear on the grapevine the push will be on for A&EH to have all one day games in the A grade next season anyway....so stayed tuned!

[jackpot jim]

I'd be very surprised if 2 day cricket was banished altogether from A&EHCA.
Nairne pushed hard for all 1 day cricket for A grade a few years ago now and it was surprisingly decisively defeated.
They did make some very valid points in their proposal.
I think as long as the program remains a 50/50 mix of 2 and 1 dayers, most are happy.
Agree that without a huge influx of talent that Maccy, Echunga, Finniss and Cally are a long way off returning to A Grade.
Hahndorf i cant see coming back up whilst they only have the 1 Senior team and i think they would rather the 1 day format of A2s
Mt Barker have indicated they are working on returning to A Grade and i guess thats possible. Would need a few recruits i guess but
if theyre really dinkum about it thats surely not too hard to do?
FWIW i think the A Grade will eventually down the track be all 1 dayers, dont think it will be next season tho.

[Roxy the Rat Girl]

I'd be very surprised if 2 day cricket was banished altogether from A&EHCA.
Nairne pushed hard for all 1 day cricket for A grade a few years ago now and it was surprisingly decisively defeated.
They did make some very valid points in their proposal.
I think as long as the program remains a 50/50 mix of 2 and 1 dayers, most are happy.
Agree that without a huge influx of talent that Maccy, Echunga, Finniss and Cally are a long way off returning to A Grade.
Hahndorf i cant see coming back up whilst they only have the 1 Senior team and i think they would rather the 1 day format of A2s
Mt Barker have indicated they are working on returning to A Grade and i guess thats possible. Would need a few recruits i guess but
if theyre really dinkum about it thats surely not too hard to do?
FWIW i think the A Grade will eventually down the track be all 1 dayers, dont think it will be next season tho.

Huge congratulations to Strath and Woodside in making the A Grade GF. Both teams have been very good over recent years and if Nairne weren't the powerhouse they are, both would have probably won flags in the past few seasons.

I agree Jackpot, eventually the AEH comp will become all one dayers but not in the next few seasons as it was overwhelmingly defeated a few years ago and I don't believe sentiment has changed that much to support an all 1 day comp in A Grade at the moment.

The A Grade 7 team comp is far from ideal with a bye often impacting upon team momentum. A few years ago there was a situation where one team didn't play for 5 weeks in the middle of the season! There was the Christmas break of 2 weeks, then a heated out one day match followed by a 2 week bye. Less than ideal for a premier competition. I think the Association needs to resolve this somehow. Ideally there would be an even number of teams in all higher grades, and if there is an odd number in any grade, it should be the C Grade. The argument that A2 teams aren't up to A Grade at present and are working on improving is BS. The divide between A2 and A Grade is enormous and no Club will never get up to A Grade standard unless they play at A Grade level. Similarly they won't attract genuine A Grade cricketers unless they field an A Grade team. If a club is considering stepping up they should make the move, understanding that they may get flogged in their first season, but with a goal to improve and become increasingly competitive over several seasons. I think some clubs want to roll into A Grade and have instant success, but with very strong clubs and A Grade teams like Nairne, Strath, Woodside, and Langhorne Creek getting around the park, this is simply a delusion. These clubs have built their A Grade teams up to a high standard whilst playing in the A Grade competition, not fluked a couple of gun recruits to an A2 team and then stepped up and waltzed home to an A Grade flag.

[Dutchy]

Is it tIme for a super league created with the top teams from each Hills Assc making up a 10 team comp? Rest of the clubs stay with their Associations and play one day cricket, could even be a promotion/relegation system of some sort.

It would be a very high standard comp.

[Roxy the Rat Girl]

Is it tIme for a super league created with the top teams from each Hills Assc making up a 10 team comp? Rest of the clubs stay with their Associations and play one day cricket, could even be a promotion/relegation system of some sort.

It would be a very high standard comp.

Certainly in AEHCA there are 3 or 4 clubs who are quite dominant in A Grade (3 consistently) whilst the remainder of the grades are fairly even with premierships rarely won by the same club in two consecutive seasons.

I think a super league would be a very high standard and make for a fantastic competition. My concern would be that many cricketers (especially the better players) would gravitate to the super league clubs and you may therefore see the demise of more local clubs or at least, the quality of cricket played by those local clubs. Perhaps this could be alleviated if the top team from selected SL clubs played in the SL and the second XI and Thirds etc. remained in their current competitions. This too would cause a disparity as the SL clubs would draw a greater depth of talent and so would probably still end up dominating the local comps.

I like the idea but I'm not sure how it could be implemented without damaging existing clubs who were not SL material.

Interested to see who you would have make up the 10 teams in the Super League ?

For me - from AEH I think Nairne, Strath, Woodside, and then possibly either Creeks or Lobethal. I don't know much about Hills or TVA comps except that Meadows are akin to Nairne so they would be in. The rest I am unsure of.

[saintal]

There was a bit of talk about a ‘Super League’ maybe 7 or 8 years ago when Lobethal, Woodside and Kersbrook were regularly the top 3 in TVCA. The theory being that those 3 clubs would field their second side in the TVCA A Grade comp and still be reasonably competitive. With these clubs no longer in the league I don’t think it’s something that would benefit TVCA. If say Gumeracha and Palmer were to enter a SL, their second sides would struggle at A Grade level, and with only 17 teams in the league, the loss of a couple would leave it even thinner.

A hypothetical 8 team comp would probably initially consist of Meadows, Mt Lofty, Flagstaff Hill/SCIBs, Nairne, Woodside, Strathalbyn, Gumeracha and Palmer.

The concept seems to work quite well in netball.