Stirling has won a thrilling contest against Mt Lofty as round three action in the Hills Cricket Association (HCA) wrapped up on Saturday. The Eagles had slumped to 7/55 in pursuit of Mt Lofty’s first innings of 173 before 17 year old Jack Read made a heroic, match winning 87 not out (108 balls) to guide the Eagles home by one wicket. Read was involved in significant partnerships worth 44 (8th wicket) with Josh Cox, 50 (9th wicket) with Charlie Fryer and then an unbroken 10th wicket stand of 25 with Alex Durbidge to get the home side over the line. James Kittel-Neill (3/47) and Adam Carthew (3/54) battled manfully with the ball for the Redcaps. On day one, Mt Lofty’s innings was anchored by Nick Justice who batted for over three hours, making a valuable 76. Some late hitting from Brad Hutton (29 not out off 19 balls) lifted the visitors to a competitive total. Veteran pair Julian Zytnik (3/31) and Pete Fryer (3/48) did the damage with the ball for Stirling. It was a fantastic and at one stage, highly unlikely win for Stirling which will give them some impetus going into this week’s game against Aldgate, while for Mt Lofty it was a case of what might have been. The Redcaps will need to pick themselves up as they travel to Meadows in round four.

Meadows has remained undefeated after a comfortable six-wicket victory over Bridgewater at Meadows Oval. The visitors batted first on day one and were bowled out for just 122. Charlie Birnie top scored with 40 and was supported by Rhys Jordan (27). Unfortunately for the Raiders there were no other contributions as they were bowled out after 57 overs. Tom Bevan-Giles returned his best ever figures with 4/19 (12) while veteran Chad Dawe was good again with 3/27 (14). Meadows had 10 overs to bat before stumps and were 1/28 with Luke Tonkin the player dismissed for 13. It only took 21 overs on day two for the Bulldogs to wrap up the victory with Matt Pethick (29 not out) and Anthony Hughes (23) leading the way with the bat. Veteran Luke Hoyle bowled a good spell for Bridgewater to snare 2/5 from his five overs. Meadows face Mt Lofty in the next round while Bridgewater has the bye.

Aldgate won their second game of the season after chasing down Flagstaff Hill’s total of 204 with six wickets in hand. Aldgate skipper Jake Turnbull sent the Falcons into bat on day one and through excellent contributions from skipper Kyle Petty (50) and Angus Heaton (48), the home side got themselves into a good position at 4/148. Turnbull took matters into his own hands, bowling a marathon 22-over spell and taking 6/59, his fourth five-wicket haul for Aldgate. Flagstaff Hill lost 6/56 to be bowled out in the final over of the day. Day two began well for Aldgate as Josh Callaghan (22) and Mitch Thomas (18) added 45 for the first wicket before three quick wickets fell to leave the reigning premier vulnerable at 3/60 in the 33rd over. Petty was in the middle of a long 30-over spell which would ultimately yield him the figures of 3/82. Aldgate needed a partnership and they got a good one as Frank Clements (84 not out) and Liam Winskill (68) put on 136 for the fourth wicket to get the Gaters close to the victory target which was ultimately achieved in the 64th over.

Round 4 (9/11/19 & 16/11/19) fixtures are two-day matches (home team named first).....

Aldgate v Stirling

Kangarilla v Flagstaff Hill

Meadows v Mt Lofty

Bridgewater has the bye