SACA's Premier League to kick-off next month in Darwin and Adelaide

SACA will launch its Premier League cricket competition with matches in Darwin and Adelaide on the penultimate weekend of September.

SACA will launch its Premier League cricket competition with matches in Darwin and Adelaide on the penultimate weekend of September.

Adelaide teams, the Western Grit and Northern Mavericks, will travel to Darwin to play one-day matches against the Northern Territory state team and Papua New Guinea national team on September 21-22.

SA's other teams, the Eastern Edge and Southern Force, will clash in a one-day match in Adelaide on the same weekend.

Details for the Premier League, which will become the feeder competition to the Redbacks, were released last week.

The competition will feature four regional Adelaide teams as well as teams from NT and Papua New Guinea.

SACA high performance manager Jamie Cox said teams would each play five two-day and five one-day games.

The exact fixture would not be finalised until Cricket Australia's summer program had been locked in.

Cox confirmed that:

- The Premier League would feature a Twenty20 competition from December 13-15.

- Matches would begin in the final two weekends of September.

- Other rounds were likely to be programmed during January.

The Premier League concept was created by SACA in a bid to bridge the gap between First Class cricket and Grade Cricket, and improve SA's poor recent record at state level.

Squads of 20 players have been selected for Adelaide's four regional teams meaning, in theory, the 80 best players in the state will be part of the competition.

Cox said about 150 players had applied to play in the league.

He said the competition would compliment, not compete with Grade cricket, despite some local clubs expressing initial concerns about the league.

"SACA is still absolutely 100 per cent committed to making sure our Grade clubs are a home to our players and making sure that competition remains robust and strong," he said.

"This competition is a bit more icing on the cake.

"The way I see it, most of our up and coming batsmen might get 12 or 13, or maybe 15, hits with their Grade club during a season at the moment.

"With the Premier League, they'll now get 22 or 23 hits, meaning they spend more time in the middle."