Stanley Cricket Association

[whufc]

The streak is over

[OnSong]

The streak is over

In the most unlikely fashion.

[whufc]

The streak is over

In the most unlikely fashion.

Agree, was simply outplayed on the day. We feel about 20 runs short in our innings and they batted smart and ran very well between the wickets, capitalizing on what was a poor bowling performance by us.

Means we will 100% have to beat Lower North to try and get a top 2 position, very difficult task.

Disappointing.

[Hazbeen]

1 round to go with the top 4 set just the order to change. Possible semi finals preview in the last round with Lower North playing Sevenhill and Clare playing Brinkworth.

The season is over for the Rebels having the bye in the last round. Did the merge work? Missed the finals so probably not....

[Hazbeen]

A1 semis

1st semi - Brinkworth vs Sevenhill
2nd Semi - Lower North vs Clare

[whufc]

A1 semis

1st semi - Brinkworth vs Sevenhill
2nd Semi - Lower North vs Clare

Should be two cracker games. Any side in the top 4 can win it.

Not sure how we will go on the weekend but I'm led to believe we have everyone available so will field our strongest side this year.

[Hazbeen]

Buffs straight into the GF

Clare vs Brinky Prelim

Sea Horses done for the season

[whufc]

Outplayed on the day

Their late order hitting power was greater than ours

[Hazbeen]

A grade GF will be a rematch of last years decider with Brinky to play Lower North at Balaklava after knocking off Clare yesterday.

B Grade will be Watervale vs Sevenhill

Colts Div 1 will be Lower North vs Sevenhill after today's semi finals where the losers were Brinkworth and Clare

[Hazbeen]

Buffs win!

[Hazbeen]

A's - Lower North defeated Brinkworth (6th flag in 7 years)

B's- Watervale defeated Sevenhill (3rd or 4th in a row? )

Sc - Lower North defeated Sevenhill

[Angler]

Will be interesting to see what happens in this comp next season. There are talks that the b grade comp may cease after only 4 clubs competed last season

[daysofourlives]

Will be interesting to see what happens in this comp next season. There are talks that the b grade comp may cease after only 4 clubs competed last season

Should put in a turf wicket at Auburn and have an association team join the B&L comp

[whufc]

Will be interesting to see what happens in this comp next season. There are talks that the b grade comp may cease after only 4 clubs competed last season

Should put in a turf wicket at Auburn and have an association team join the B&L comp

Gut feel is that teams would still really struggle for numbers.

I'm happy to admit this is my perception after playing one season in the comp so I'm not an authority on this.

While the players take game days serious cricket is very much purely a 'social sport' At Sevenhill we were probably the club that had the most 'genuine' cricketers with most of our A Grade being cricketers first (didn't help us win sadly) where as clubs such as Clare, MinMan, Auburn, WAM Blyth are purely social teams with 1-2 keen cricketers first. Even then a team like Blyth was 100% social side.

What I saw a lot of was players not being willing to travel and that even included the top A1 sides. Both times we played Brinkworth and Lower North the grand finalists at home they played with 10 & 9 players due to other players having 'other commitments' yet each time we played a side at home they always had a full side.

A suggestion like what happened with 'Lower North' has been floated but chatting to guys from the inner Clare clubs they would rather not play than be part of a joint association team.

A common idea that gets floated if it 100% had to would be to merge with another comp and have every club keep its identity. The reoccurring suggestion is a merger with Rocky River but clubs are very reluctant due to the travel factor. (personally I don't even know what teams are in that comp etc.)

[daysofourlives]

Will be interesting to see what happens in this comp next season. There are talks that the b grade comp may cease after only 4 clubs competed last season

Should put in a turf wicket at Auburn and have an association team join the B&L comp

Gut feel is that teams would still really struggle for numbers.

I'm happy to admit this is my perception after playing one season in the comp so I'm not an authority on this.

While the players take game days serious cricket is very much purely a 'social sport' At Sevenhill we were probably the club that had the most 'genuine' cricketers with most of our A Grade being cricketers first (didn't help us win sadly) where as clubs such as Clare, MinMan, Auburn, WAM Blyth are purely social teams with 1-2 keen cricketers first. Even then a team like Blyth was 100% social side.

What I saw a lot of was players not being willing to travel and that even included the top A1 sides. Both times we played Brinkworth and Lower North the grand finalists at home they played with 10 & 9 players due to other players having 'other commitments' yet each time we played a side at home they always had a full side.

A suggestion like what happened with 'Lower North' has been floated but chatting to guys from the inner Clare clubs they would rather not play than be part of a joint association team.

A common idea that gets floated if it 100% had to would be to merge with another comp and have every club keep its identity. The reoccurring suggestion is a merger with Rocky River but clubs are very reluctant due to the travel factor. (personally I don't even know what teams are in that comp etc.)

Yeah its a tough one where the interest is low and clubs want to keep their identities in rural areas.
Its those 1to 2 serious cricketers from each club that a assoc team in the B&L may appeal to. I believe there has been a couple form auburn move to Gilbert Valley over the last couple years for that reason amongst others. There was one junior played in our u16 comp this year for Eud/Rob as the comp was on friday nights, he might even have been from sevenhill WHUFC.
The hardest thing would be getting it off the ground as there naturally would be pull from their local club to keep them there and they wouldnt want to weaken their own team. It would be more about giving any young talent coming through a higher leveel to play at without the commitment of premier cricket in adelaide. Obviously iof they have that much talent thats where they should be.
I think SACA would throw money at a turf pitch for your area, even if it was in Clare i dont think B&L clubs would have an issue with the travel

[Angler]

I think if you did combine the Stanley and Rocky River comps you would have to divide them into north and south divisions. E.g north all Rocky River teams plus Brinkworth, Blyth and Clare. With South being Long Plains, Lower North, Auburn/Mintaro, Watervale and Sevenhill. Then at the end of the season the top 2 from each division play off in the finals.

Im not sure a combined team in the Barossa comp would ever work unfortunately.

[whufc]

Will be interesting to see what happens in this comp next season. There are talks that the b grade comp may cease after only 4 clubs competed last season

Should put in a turf wicket at Auburn and have an association team join the B&L comp

Gut feel is that teams would still really struggle for numbers.

I'm happy to admit this is my perception after playing one season in the comp so I'm not an authority on this.

While the players take game days serious cricket is very much purely a 'social sport' At Sevenhill we were probably the club that had the most 'genuine' cricketers with most of our A Grade being cricketers first (didn't help us win sadly) where as clubs such as Clare, MinMan, Auburn, WAM Blyth are purely social teams with 1-2 keen cricketers first. Even then a team like Blyth was 100% social side.

What I saw a lot of was players not being willing to travel and that even included the top A1 sides. Both times we played Brinkworth and Lower North the grand finalists at home they played with 10 & 9 players due to other players having 'other commitments' yet each time we played a side at home they always had a full side.

A suggestion like what happened with 'Lower North' has been floated but chatting to guys from the inner Clare clubs they would rather not play than be part of a joint association team.

A common idea that gets floated if it 100% had to would be to merge with another comp and have every club keep its identity. The reoccurring suggestion is a merger with Rocky River but clubs are very reluctant due to the travel factor. (personally I don't even know what teams are in that comp etc.)

Yeah its a tough one where the interest is low and clubs want to keep their identities in rural areas.
Its those 1to 2 serious cricketers from each club that a assoc team in the B&L may appeal to. I believe there has been a couple form auburn move to Gilbert Valley over the last couple years for that reason amongst others. There was one junior played in our u16 comp this year for Eud/Rob as the comp was on friday nights, he might even have been from sevenhill WHUFC.
The hardest thing would be getting it off the ground as there naturally would be pull from their local club to keep them there and they wouldnt want to weaken their own team. It would be more about giving any young talent coming through a higher leveel to play at without the commitment of premier cricket in adelaide. Obviously iof they have that much talent thats where they should be.
I think SACA would throw money at a turf pitch for your area, even if it was in Clare i dont think B&L clubs would have an issue with the travel

I agree with what your saying, I don't think though that there has been 'enough lost' hope though from the clubs to consider a combined association team as such.

Having spoken to the guys throughout the season the number one option would definitely be a merge with a competition (and maybe one day that would be with Rocky River/B&L etc) Even this year the competition struggled to get an association team for a one day event as the interest to do anything more than just play for club loyalty isn't there.

To be honest most of the young talent are either good enough that they will have a crack at district cricket or secondly there content to play at their local club and fit in around high work commitments and generally their priority sport.

Gilbert Valley (Riverton) is right on half an hour from Clare Central (Saddleworth even closer) so if there were that many kids demanding to player higher level but not district I would imagine they would have already made the move to Gilbert Valley.

Ill be the honest being a super keen cricketer myself I was a tad disappointed at how social the comp is treated. Playing against teams with 9 players, playing against 13-14 year old lads not ready for senior cricket but I guess that's life in country cricket to which this is my first experience.

[happyhawk]

You are all spot on. Unfortunately country sport and more so summer sport is dying a slow death.

At Gilbert Valley we have only had Normy come down from the Stanley comp and he has even said how difficult it was to leave a club that he knew wasnt in a great position numbers wise. Many of the better players in the Stanley would do well in the Barossa comp, the issue at the moment by the sounds is depth of talent and just numbers in general. We have tried pretty hard to get players from both Auburn and Clare over several years, unfortunately many of the better cricketers are older guys who have a family and are near the end of their cricketing days. Many guys will hang on as they dont want to see their clubs die, but in honesty this is just delaying the inevitable. The Barossa comp, in my opinion, would be the best regional cricket comp in the state by a long way. 6 senior grades with an average of 8 teams per comp, junior numbers are high with a similar amount of grades as the seniors. Junior cricketers can play in the Barossa in the morning and play for a district club in the afternoon with a short drive from the Barossa/Gawler to Adelaide. The turf wickets are better than many grade decks and the comp is run by an excellent committee in a very professional manner.

If the Stanley comp was to disband it would be silly not to go south into the Barossa comp. Families are then closer to Adelaide once the game is complete if they have functions etc to attend to. Lets be honest who wants to play cricket north of Clare if you dont live up that way.

[Angler]

Fair points you make happy. It could possibly work. The only issue is travel. Not sure how you expect colts cricketers to travel to Gawler for instance for a game starting at 8.30 on a Saturday morning. Unless again it was split into north and south. The same with senior cricket I think the issue is travel and also 2 day cricket. Will majority of people from the Stanley comp buy in?

[happyhawk]

Fair points you make happy. It could possibly work. The only issue is travel. Not sure how you expect colts cricketers to travel to Gawler for instance for a game starting at 8.30 on a Saturday morning. Unless again it was split into north and south. The same with senior cricket I think the issue is travel and also 2 day cricket. Will majority of people from the Stanley comp buy in?

Currently I believe the Balkan and Burra colts play against each other which is over 90kms. Maybe the colts could still run a comp if numbers are ok