Reigning premier Aldgate got their premiership defence off to a winning start with a convincing eight-wicket victory over local rival Bridgewater as the Hills Cricket Association (HCA) season got underway on Saturday. Bridgewater batted first and it was tough going as the Raiders slumped to 5/48 with the only top order resistance coming from Justin Summerill who made 28. Rhys Jordan (36 not out) and Anthony Jennings (16 not out) dug in to take the Raiders to 6/130 at the end of their 40 overs. Matty Hansen (3/17) and Jake Turnbull (2/18) were the multiple wicket takers for Aldgate while Frank Clements (0/8 from 8 overs) bowled very economically. Aldgate’s run chase began in solid fashion with Josh Callaghan (16) and Mitch Thomas (39) adding 27 for the first wicket before Callaghan was dismissed. Turnbull (39 not out) joined Thomas in a 51-run stand before Thomas was removed. Both wickets were taken by Adam Eckermann (2/16) in his first game at Bridgewater since the 2011/12 Grand Final. Frank Clements (32 not out) and Turnbull then took the ‘Gaters’ to the winning total with 14 balls to spare.

Meadows hosted Kangarilla in the ‘Southern Derby’ with the home side coming out on top by 37 runs. New Meadows captain Brad Dawe won the toss and decided to bat first but the Bulldogs got off to a shaky start with Luke Tonkin dismissed without scoring. Haydn Reid (72) was joined by skipper Dawe (44) and these two set about compiling a match winning partnership of 113 for the second wicket. Rohan Reid with 34 not out in the latter part of the innings set Meadows up to post 6/200 after their 40 overs. Steve Featherstone (2/22) and Southern Districts recruit Cole Davy (2/25) were the multiple wicket takers for Kangarilla. The visitors lost Davy early in the run chase but Jono Makai (25) and Matthew Bertelsmeier (54) added 32 for the second wicket before Makai then Carlos Venter (0) were dismissed with the score now 3/47. All three wickets were snared by Chad Dawe on his way to 3/13 from six overs. Bertelsmeier and Featherstone (25) came together and added 60 for the fourth wicket before Featherstone fell as Kangarilla lost their last seven wickets for just 56 runs. Brad Louch (6/28) was the destroyer taking the last six wickets including four clean bowled! It was Louch’s first five-wicket haul for Meadows.

Stirling and Flagstaff Hill played out a tight low-scoring affair at Stirling Oval before the Eagles got the chocolates with a two-wicket victory. Flagstaff Hill won the toss and batted but lost Stephen Wheatland (4) early before skipper Kyle Petty (16) joined Will Goulding (41) and these two set about pushing the Falcons to a competitive score. They added 54 before Petty was run out and when Goulding was dismissed, the visitors were looking shaky. Angus Heaton (26) did a good job with the lower order to get Flaggies to 9/124 at the end of their 40 overs. Stirling shared the wickets around with Sturt recruit Kosta Sinodinos (3/23), Pete Fryer (2/13) and the returning Jacob Gonzalez (2/38) the major wicket takers. Stirling’s run chase began promisingly as they reached 2/56 before a middle order collapse saw them slip to 7/85 and the Eagles were in real danger of losing. Ben Zampa played a cracking innings of 58 from just 68 balls but he needed some help which came in the form of Sinodinos (13 not out) and Jacob Gonzalez who whacked 24 from just 13 balls (2 x 4’s, 2 x 6’s) to bring Stirling home in the 35th over. Petty was the star with the ball for the Falcons taking 4/8 (8) and he was supported by Jack Walton with 3/35 (7).

Round 2 (19/10/19) fixtures are 40-overs per side one-dayers (home team named first)…..

Aldgate v Kangarilla

Flagstaff Hill v Mount Lofty

Stirling v Bridgewater

Meadows has the bye