The Hills Cricket Association (HCA) season gets underway on Saturday (10 October) with eight clubs chasing ‘A’ grade premiership glory. The competition has undergone a major overhaul in the off-season with two-day cricket going the way of the dinosaurs, to be replaced by a one-day competition comprising 16 rounds. Matches will be 40-overs per side with fielding restrictions for the first 10 overs, where only two fielders are allowed outside the ‘fielding circle’. There will be ‘legside’ wides where any ball passing 30cm outside the leg stump will need to be re-bowled, along with free hits for front-foot no balls. After finishing on the bottom of the ladder last season, Bridgewater has dropped to the A2 competition while Scott Creek Ironbank and Uraidla have rejoined ‘A’ grade ranks after a two season and one season absence respectively.

After winning 12 of the past 15 ‘A’ grade premierships, Meadows will again be one of the teams to beat. Rohan Reid is back for a third stint as captain this season as 2019/20 captain Brad Dawe has moved to the Goodwood Cricket Club in the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association. Brad Louch has moved to Bremer-Callington while Matthew Pethick has decided not to play in 2020/21. The Bulldogs are hopeful multiple-premiership opening bowler Gus Frazer will return this season and they will welcome some new players including Dan Ryan and Jayde Wheadon who have moved into the area. With some experience going out of the team, it will give more opportunity to some young players in Oscar Tydeman, Will Bevan-Giles and Cade Long. Rohan and Haydn Reid will once again play a big role with the bat for Meadows and there’s no doubt the reigning premiers will be around the mark as always.

2018/19 premier Aldgate finished second last season and have kept their playing list pretty much intact and have added a key recruit in Jack Woollard from the Palmer Cricket Club. Woollard captained Palmer to the Torrens Valley Cricket Association (TVCA) grand final last season and in the past five seasons in the TVCA, has taken 111 ‘A’ grade wickets. Jake Turnbull has taken over as senior coach and will continue as ‘A’ grade skipper for a third season. Youngsters such as Jake Bilsborow, Harry Morbey, Will Quigley-Smith and Angas Wauchope will put their hand up to add to their ‘A’ grade experience from the past couple of seasons. HCA ‘Cricketer of the Year’ Frank Clements (467 runs and 11 wickets) will once again be a huge part of the Gaters premiership hopes along with left-arm swing bowler Matty Hansen who had a breakout 2019/20 campaign taking 28 wickets to win the A1 bowling aggregate.

Stirling had another solid season finishing third in 2019/20, their third top-four finish in a row. The Eagles will once again be led by top order batsman Jack Pick and they will be looking for their young players such as Myles Collins, Jack Read, Jacob Kemp and Ned Hopgood to take another step forward. A strong crop of last season’s under 16’s including Bayley James, Charlie Fryer and Kurt Zytnik will also push for ‘A’ grade selection. Top order batsman, Ben Zampa, will also play some part in the season despite now living in Sydney. Daniel Gonzalez (300 runs) and Pete Fryer (23 wickets) led the Eagles statistically in 2019/20 and they’ll be big keys to the Eagles’ success this season.

Kangarilla made huge strides last season to secure their first top-four finish since joining the HCA ranks for the 2014/15 season. ‘Kangies’ recruited well with players such as Cole Davy and Carlos Venter having a positive impact on the club. The one-day format should complement Kangarilla’s playing style with players such as Jono Makai, Steve Featherstone and Davy capable of scoring quickly. Che Martinsen will once again lead Kangarilla and he is a proven all-rounder while Matthew Bertelsmeier will look to add to his fine season in 2019/20 where he scored 352 runs and finished fifth overall in the HCA batting aggregate.The boys from Yaroona Oval have added talented teenager Lachlan Knight to their playing list for the upcoming season. Knight played senior cricket with Southern Districts last season and also played under 16’s for Scott Creek Ironbank where he scored 456 runs at an average of 91.20. Kangarilla would be confident they can continue their improvement from last season into 2020/21.

Mount Lofty narrowly missed out on finals action by just half a game in 2019/20 and they’ll be determined to rectify that this season. Once again the Redcaps will be led by top order batsman Jordan Neis-Beer. Neis-Beer led the Mount Lofty batting last season with 243 runs and will look to players such as Nick Justice, James Kittel-Neill and Josh Healey to produce more support with the bat. Adam Carthew will once again lead the attack as he has done for the past five seasons where he has taken 109 wickets in the A1 competition, including 21 scalps last season. Carthew showed his class last season with a match-winning 6/39 in the Meyer Shield final against Great Southern. Former West Torrens cricketer Aaron Smith joined the Redcaps for the second half of last season and will continue in 2020/21. Smith showed signs of what the Lofty boys hope will be a regular occurence when he top scored (54 not out from 61 balls) against Meadows in the final match last season.

Flagstaff Hill had to win their final match of last season to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon and there have been plenty of changes in the Falcons nest in the off-season. Club champion Kyle Petty and opening batsman Will Goulding have departed for Flinders Park in the Adelaide Turf competition while Mick Taylor has left as coach to take up a role with the Coromandel Cricket Club. The Falcons have brought in former player Marty Clifton as senior coach and he brings a wealth of experience in coaching and will be a key to the Falcons growing and developing their young players in what the club has described as a rebuilding phase. Club stalwart Jacob Lemon has been appointed as ‘A’ grade skipper and he is joined in the leadership group by Max Renfrey, Steve Wheatland and Jack Walton. 

Scott Creek Ironbank are back in the A1 competition for the first time since the 2017/18 season. SCIB has won the past two A2 premierships and with Bridgewater going down, they were asked by the HCA to come up. Unfortunately they will be without their captain and leading run scorer from last season in Adam Shearwood who succumbed to a knee injury over winter. Shearwood scored 574 runs at 63.78 in 2019/20 so he will be a big loss. Veteran all-rounder Andy Adams scored 228 runs and took 11 wickets last season and he will be a big key to his club’s fortunes along with Thomas Watton who made 218 runs and took 15 wickets in 2019/20. Scott Creek Ironbank will look to their young players to step up to ‘A’ grade standard and if Ben McGowan can recapture his bowling form from the first half of the 2010’s when he was one of the best opening bowlers in the competition, SCIB could be a dangerous proposition. In off-field news, the club will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the merger between Scott Creek and Ironbank cricket clubs.

Uraidla are also back in ‘A’ grade ranks after a one year hiatus in A2 where they finished second at the end of the minor round. Alex Hepstinall had a standout season in ‘B’ grade ranks as he led the association with 794 runs at 61.08 and he will be the key to Uraidla making defendable totals in ‘A’ grade. Ben Sheppard (381 runs), Michael Parker (298 runs) and Simon Parker (298 runs) will also be important players for Uraidla. On the bowling front, Renzo Gaetan is a proven performer as is Simon Parker. Youngster George Bond stepped up to ‘B’ grade last season and took 12 wickets and he will continue to improve with experience. 

Round 1 fixtures (home team named first)

Uraidla v Meadows

Scott Creek Ironbank v Aldgate

Flagstaff Hill v Stirling

Mount Lofty v Kangarilla