Meadows won their first game of the Hills Cricket Association (HCA) season following their comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Scott Creek Ironbank (SCIB) at Cherry Gardens on Saturday. Meadows won the toss and sent the home side in and the move paid immediate dividends with SCIB slumping to 4/16 with young Bulldogs opening bowler Tom Bevan-Giles doing most of the damage with a fine spell of 3/11 from his eight overs. Jarrod Thompson tried hard for the hosts as he top scored with a gritty 31 from 70 balls but it was to no avail as his side were dismissed for just 83 in the 35th over. Coming on as the fifth bowler to be used, veteran Chad Dawe snared 5/26 from 7.2 overs. It was the 16th five-wicket haul of Dawe’s stellar career. Meadows cruised to the victory target for the loss of just three wickets and with more than 20 overs to spare. Haydn Reid top scored with 46 not out from 62 balls with his innings containing eight boundaries. Anthony Hughes chipped in with 24 from 33 balls. Tom Watton (1/8), Danny Coleman (1/16) and Aaron Thompson (1/26) were the wicket takers for Scott Creek Ironbank.

Reigning premier Mount Lofty made short work of Bridgewater to stay top of the HCA ladder with a convincing 10-wicket victory at the home of the Raiders. ‘Bridgy’ won the toss and chose to bat first and they started well with Luke Hoyle (24) and Justin Summerill (19) adding 30 for the first wicket. After that it was all the Redcaps with Caleb Risson (11) the only other batsman to reach double figures as his team were bowled out for 96 in the 38th over. 2020/21 Grand Final hero Brett Pistola was back for Mount Lofty and he took up where he left off last season with the fine figures of 3/16 (7.3). However, Pistola’s performance was overshadowed by Max Hawke, who bowled an inspired spell to finish with 5/9 from eight overs. It was the second five-wicket haul of Hawke’s career after he skittled Kangarilla last season with 6/10. Mount Lofty wasted no time in chasing the target down as the ultra aggressive duo of Jack Sandercock and Josh Healey reached the target of 96 off just 8.1 overs! Sandercock was devastating with 51 not out from just 21 balls with his knock containing two fours and a whopping six sixes, while Healey followed up his 83 not out from round one with 41 not out from 28 balls (4 x 4’s, 3 x 6’s).   

Aldgate also made it two wins from as many starts with an eight-wicket triumph at Uraidla. Aldgate skipper Jake Turnbull won the toss and decided to field first and his side was off to a great start with the Demons slumping to 4/27 with Will Turner, in his second ‘A’ grade match for the 'Gaters', taking 2/17 (8). The experienced duo of Simon Parker and Renzo Gaetan then came together to add 57 runs for the fifth wicket to help put their side back in the game. Parker ended up with a top-scoring knock of 44 not out from 82 balls, while Gaetan made 29 from 59 balls, as the home side finished with 6/130 from their 40 overs. Other wicket takers for Aldgate were Max Bilsborow (1/21) and Brian Stephens (1/23). It was teenager Bilsborow’s first ‘A’ grade scalp. Aldgate were under early pressure with openers Josh Callaghan (1) and Mitch Thomas (7) both dismissed by Gaetan as the score sat at 2/16. Gaetan bowled an excellent spell to finish with 2/18 from his eight overs. Luke Smet and Angas Wauchope were promoted up the order and they did their team proud as they added an unbeaten 116 runs for the third wicket to get the win with more than 11 overs spare. Smet finished with 60 not out (5 x 4’s, 2 x 6’s) and Wauchope 52 not out (6 x 4’s). It was the first ‘A’ grade half centuries for both Smet and Wauchope. 

The match between Stirling and Kangarilla was unfortunately abandoned due to Stirling Oval being too wet after heavy rain during the latter part of the week. The teams received three points each for a draw.

Round 3 fixture (home team named first)

Aldgate v Meadows

Uraidla v Scott Creek Ironbank

Bridgewater v Kangarilla

Stirling v Mount Lofty

Ladder (after round 2)

Mount Lofty 12, Aldgate 12, Stirling 9, Kangarilla 9, Meadows 6, Scott Creek Ironbank 0, Uraidla 0, Bridgewater 0.