SA Footy

Well Round 1 certainly was a fizzer with some lop sided results

Woodside belted Nairne by 9 wickets , chasing down the target of 101 in only 15.4 overs

Mt Barker had an easy win out on the Callington turf making 8/158 off their 45 overs and knocking over the Cobras for about 88 i read somewhere.

Havent seen a score yet but was told Hahndorf accounted for Lobethal comfortably

The biggest smashing that wasn't totally unexpected was Straths demolition of a depleted Creek team to the tune of 250 runs
Creek only fielded 4 of their Premiership 11 from last season.
Batting 1st Strath compiled 7/288 with Mark Abbott leading the way with 117
In reply the Creeks were always gonna be in trouble if their top few batsmen failed and this they did as they crumbled from 1/22 off 4 overs to be all out for 38 in 13.4 overs with Matt Abbott and Brayden Gaiter taking 5 poles each.
A massive result for Strath as NRR is always a big chance of plating a role come Finals time with the current points system.

Only Round 1 i know but i'd be surprised if Hahndorf , Strath and Woodside arn't a lock for Finals.
Wouldn't write off the Creeks as last season they copped several hammerings only to recover and win the Flag and did have 5 -6 of their best players missing that should return in the next week or 2

TVCA kicked off last week. Some early thoughts:

Palmer- Reportedly will have a similar team to last season, although were missing a few in their opening round loss to Mt Torrens. Come good when it matters.
Gumeracha- Half a dozen new faces, with some pretty handy Ins. (Fidge, Spurling in particular). Will be tough to beat once they click
Lenswood- Lost some depth win young lads returning to Woodside, although S. Druwitt will help bowling stocks. Batting inconsistent.
Cambrai- Similar looking side, although always competitive can they win in March?
Paracombe- Same names, but will be keen to atone for a disappointing season last year where they struggled with ball
Mt Torrens- Same names, encouraging opening round win against Palmer. Generally competitive
Birdwood- The rotating door of players seems to have continued. Had a drought breaking win last year, can they improve?
Eden Valley- Back in A Grade ranks, appear to have a reasonable bowling line up with 3 back from Ango and a few other recruits.

A&EHCA Round 2

Hahndorf flogged Mt Barker by 9 wickets despite the Kookaburras making a handy 152

Strath avenged their shock loss to Bremer Callington last season by hammering them with Mark Abbott making it 2 tons from 2 innings to start the season off

Wistows 106 was never gonna be competitive and Woodside made short work of it to win by 7 wickets

L Creek with a bit of class back into the team after its Rd 1 debacle comfortably defeated their fellow Black & Gold Tiger counterparts in Lobethal

So the wash up after only 2 rounds is that its a pretty good bet at this stage that the same 4 teams as last season will play off in the finals which surprises me to be able to say that with a degree of confidence so early in the season

All A Grade teams in the TVCA have notched up a win after 3 rounds, with Gumeracha the only undefeated side. Lenswood and Cambrai have started well with 2 wins, Palmer off to their typically slow start, while it’s hard to see Eden Valley, Mt Torrens, Birdwood or Paracombe making the 4 at this early stage but still plenty of cricket left. Birdwood breaking through early was encouraging, and the Pirates sitting on the bottom isn’t an unwelcome sight.

In the B’s the early money would be on Gumeracha and Paracombe again playing off at the end of the season. Lenswood have started well, but we’ve made the call to run a second B Grade starting Round 5, so that’ll spread our better players quite thinly. Cambrai should play finals. Eden Valley perhaps best of the rest.

Two fairly competitive grades so far this season.

Is there a bit of a drop in the number of teams nominated this year in the HCA?
No A4 grade

Barkeroo wrote:Is there a bit of a drop in the number of teams nominated this year in the HCA?
No A4 grade

Yeah, 25 teams nominated this season, down from 27 (Basket Range and Eastern Ranges both down to 1 side). Only 4 clubs had an A4 last year, so I guess it was scrapped.

As a reference point, it seems participation peaked 2015/16, with 37 team nominations (which included 4 from Happy Valley and 1 from Clapham).

saintal wrote:

Barkeroo wrote:Is there a bit of a drop in the number of teams nominated this year in the HCA?
No A4 grade

Yeah, 25 teams nominated this season, down from 27 (Basket Range and Eastern Ranges both down to 1 side). Only 4 clubs had an A4 last year, so I guess it was scrapped.

As a reference point, it seems participation peaked 2015/16, with 37 team nominations (which included 4 from Happy Valley and 1 from Clapham).

Losing happy valley hurt as they were a strong club. Clubs like Basket Range , eastern ranges and mylor (probably to a lesser extent) all appear to be in trouble moving forward with a lot of old blokes keeping there club afloat with no real juniors there. With only two clubs having 3 teams the potential for us to only have 2 grades like tvca may occur within the near future. A grade will have to move to one day cricket or the dwindling of numbers will continue. Be interesting to see if the hills leauges eventually merge into one super comp.

I've always wondered at what point the Hills comps would merge into one comp. Juniors pretty much begun to merge already.

Grassroots cricket is in a fair bit of trouble, more and more people are time poor and even the junior numbers seem to be weakening, the low conversion of juniors to seniors is an issue also. T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Interesting that one of the Coro teams are playing in the Hills T20 comp, testing the waters?

Dutchy wrote:Grassroots cricket is in a fair bit of trouble, more and more people are time poor and even the junior numbers seem to be weakening, the low conversion of juniors to seniors is an issue also. T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Interesting that one of the Coro teams are playing in the Hills T20 comp, testing the waters?

Yet 3 clubs in the ATCA advised the association that they were available to fill any gaps that may arise if another club withdrew at short notice...

Juniors really drop off at the Under 16 level and that's across the country not just in SA.
I live in Perth now and the club I play for has 8 senior teams but cant get a colts team off the ground due to lack interest.

Barkeroo wrote:Juniors really drop off at the Under 16 level and that's across the country not just in SA.
I live in Perth now and the club I play for has 8 senior teams but cant get a colts team off the ground due to lack interest.

I think cricket is lucky that you can play into your 40s and 50s so that u16 level isn't as important as say football. I think the number returning to cricket at a later age after giving it away at junior level would be unusually high compared to other sports as well.
Its also natural that if you have 12 kids at u12 level by the time you get to u16 level you are likely to have lost about half, then it isn't viable to have a team and those that want to play and have the ability move into seniors. Majority of the half dozen you lose would've worked out that they don't have the abilty to play

Dutchy wrote:Grassroots cricket is in a fair bit of trouble, more and more people are time poor and even the junior numbers seem to be weakening, the low conversion of juniors to seniors is an issue also. T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Interesting that one of the Coro teams are playing in the Hills T20 comp, testing the waters?

Coro are using the hills 2020 comp to get some of their younger players introduced to the format IMO. Looking at the sides Coro have rolled out against meadows and flaggie they were missing many of their first choice a graders.

caleb777 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:Grassroots cricket is in a fair bit of trouble, more and more people are time poor and even the junior numbers seem to be weakening, the low conversion of juniors to seniors is an issue also. T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Interesting that one of the Coro teams are playing in the Hills T20 comp, testing the waters?

Coro are using the hills 2020 comp to get some of their younger players introduced to the format IMO. Looking at the sides Coro have rolled out against meadows and flaggie they were missing many of their first choice a graders.

Had a few that have come through the development squad from the last couple of years playing. The side is mainly made up of B and C graders with a handful of A graders

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

heater31 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:Grassroots cricket is in a fair bit of trouble, more and more people are time poor and even the junior numbers seem to be weakening, the low conversion of juniors to seniors is an issue also. T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Interesting that one of the Coro teams are playing in the Hills T20 comp, testing the waters?

Yet 3 clubs in the ATCA advised the association that they were available to fill any gaps that may arise if another club withdrew at short notice...

In the HCA comp?

Dutchy wrote: T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Not sure T20s are the answer for lower grade teams
A&EHCA have programmed a couple of T20 rounds as part of the H&A rounds in recent years in B & C Grades and my observations are that the majority hate it as too few get a go. Its already bad enough in 35 / 40 over games with many not getting a hit or much of a bowl let alone 20 over games

jackpot jim wrote:

Dutchy wrote: T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Not sure T20s are the answer for lower grade teams
A&EHCA have programmed a couple of T20 rounds as part of the H&A rounds in recent years in B & C Grades and my observations are that the majority hate it as too few get a go. Its already bad enough in 35 / 40 over games with many not getting a hit or much of a bowl let alone 20 over games

Absolutely, usually your top few bats are your better bowlers too.

Dutchy wrote:

heater31 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:Grassroots cricket is in a fair bit of trouble, more and more people are time poor and even the junior numbers seem to be weakening, the low conversion of juniors to seniors is an issue also. T20 is probably the only way forward for grades under A grade. Playing midweek, Friday/Sunday twilights etc, the game and associations need to find a way to adapt somehow, not easy.

Interesting that one of the Coro teams are playing in the Hills T20 comp, testing the waters?

Yet 3 clubs in the ATCA advised the association that they were available to fill any gaps that may arise if another club withdrew at short notice...

In the HCA comp?

No, in the ATCA. Just pointing out that there are other clubs around with plenty of numbers.

Yep, T20 is ok as a bit of sunday or Thursday night fun, but more often than not it's pretty underwhelming to play. But then again I'm in my mid 30s and have always (and will continue to) played cricket, so I'm not the type of person the game needs to attract/retain.

Agree T20 isnt overly fulfilling however playing 5-6 hours on a Saturday, plus travel times to and from the grounds, isn't appealing to many time poor people, I guess if the answer was simple there wouldn't be a problem.