Perennial powerhouse Meadows will take on Mount Lofty in the Hills Cricket Association (HCA) Grand Final at Meadows Oval on Saturday. The Bulldogs will be looking for their 11th premiership in 12 seasons while Mount Lofty are searching for their first ‘A’ grade flag since the 1988/89 season. The two teams last met in an HCA decider at in 2015/16 when Meadows dominated the game after bowling the Redcaps out for just 14. Only three players will take to Meadows Oval from that Redcaps team while five Bulldogs players remain. So far this season the teams have met three times with Meadows winning on each occasion, including their semi-final a fortnight ago by 59 runs. Meadows started the season slowly with just two wins in their first five matches but since their round five loss to Kangarilla, they've won nine matches on the trot. Mount Lofty has won five of their past six games with their only loss coming against Meadows in their semi-final. Meadows should go into the decider unchanged while Mount Lofty will welcome back all-rounder James Kittel-Neill, but Aaron Smith is unavailable due to being best man at a wedding.

Rohan Reid (502 runs), Haydn Reid (352) and Luke Tonkin (295) form a potent top three for the Bulldogs and their already strong list has been buoyed this season by the return of Kris Dawe (259 runs & 30 wickets) and Angus Frazer (14 wickets). Add the experience of Chad Dawe (14 wickets), Rohan Reid’s bowling (19 wickets) and the continued improvement of Callan Blackwell (14 wickets) and Tom Bevan-Giles (13 wickets), and it’s not hard to see why Meadows are such a good side. 

Mount Lofty have a few match winners of their own with a talented batting lineup featuring the ever-reliable Jordan Neis-Beer (349 runs), Kittel-Neill (263), Josh Healey (244) and all-rounder Adam Carthew (242). Carthew and Kittel-Neill lead the attack with 15 wickets each this season while Brett Pistola is a bit of a wildcard for the Redcaps with 12 wickets in just five matches. He is also capable of turning the game with his aggressive batting as is Stewart Leigh, who has made 36 (26 balls) and 42 (46 balls) in the finals series so far. 

“I am extremely proud that we have been able to make our 13th consecutive Grand Final and it’s something we don’t take for granted,” said Meadows skipper Rohan Reid. “Both teams are pretty balanced with both bat and ball and it will ultimately come down to who can execute better under pressure. Our group is certainly looking forward to the challenge.”

Mount Lofty skipper Jordan Neis-Beer said his team is excited by the challenge of tackling Meadows. “This has been our most complete season for a while and we deserve to be playing in the Grand Final. It’s good to come into this game with some momentum after a great win last week and we’re confident that if we play at our best, we can come away with the victory.”

It should be an excellent contest played in great conditions with the game starting at 1.00pm (40 overs). The game will be umpired by Glen Faull and Glenn Thomson.