Grade Cricket season set to launch tomorrow with 50 overs matches for one and two-day points

GRADE Cricket captains have named Kensington, Tea Tree Gully and reigning premier Port Adelaide as the teams to beat when the two-day competition begins tomorrow.

GRADE Cricket captains have named Kensington, Tea Tree Gully and reigning premier Port Adelaide as the teams to beat when the two-day competition begins tomorrow.

Speaking at last week’s season launch, most skippers tipped perennial semi-finalists Kensington and last season’s runner-up Tea Tree Gully as the most likely to dethrone the Magpies, who ended a 46-year wait for a two-day flag last campaign.

But East Torrens captain Michael Cranmer said the competition looked very even, suggesting most teams were finals contenders.

“Tea Tree Gully and Kensington have always got fantastic squads with lots of depth,” Cranmer said.

“Having said that, it looks a really, really strong competition this year with lots of sides coming up from the bottom last year looking to play really good cricket.”

Cranmer’s side was on the brink of making last season’s finals before losing their last two minor round matches – to the bottom two clubs West Torrens and Prospect – and finishing sixth.

“We’ll use that as a fuel on the fire to get pumped for this season,” he said.

Kensington captain and reigning Bradman Medallist Jake Brown expected Tea Tree Gully to be his side’s main challenger for the premiership.

He said his side had to improve its batting to win a flag after three straight losing semi-finals.

“It’s been our batting that has let us down,” Brown said.

Tea Tree Gully captain Matthew Weaver said his team was desperate to win the two-day competition after three consecutive one-day and Twenty20 premierships.

He expected Port, which beat the Gullies in last season’s grand final, to challenge again.

“We played two hours of bad cricket, which cost us,” Weaver said.

“Hopefully we can go one better.”

Woodville’s Stuart Coles said his club faced a challenging season after losing coach Dean Sayers and his sons batsman Aaron (Port Adelaide) and Redbacks paceman Chadd (Glenelg).

“Kensington is always tough to beat for us and I think Port Adelaide will be strong again,” the Peckers top-order batsman said.

“We had a bit of a shaky start with a few guys leaving us late in the piece, but the morale with all the young guys is really good and overall it’s a pretty tight competition.”

Sam Raphael of Adelaide said Tea Tree Gully would figure in premiership calculations.

“But with the competition as it is, anyone who makes the top four has got a chance,” Raphael, who led the Buffalos to 11th place last season, said.

“We’re really optimistic about the season ahead because we’ve got one of the best bowling attacks so the key for us will be making the runs on a consistent basis.”

Grade Cricket’s youngest captain, West Torrens’ Kelvin Smith, said the experience of the Browns and Magpies would be crucial.

“We’ve got quite a young group and we’re going to look to get as much development into our players as we can,” Smith, 20, said.

“Hopefully we can inject some experience into our younger blokes ... so they will be around the mark for the next couple of years.”

Glenelg’s Tom Plant hoped his side could bounce back after a disappointing premiership defence last season.

“We didn’t do as well as we’d hoped ... so this year we should have pretty of hunger,” the all-rounder said.

“It’s just about working hard and having everyone contribute on Saturday.”

New Sturt captain Brad Davis and Adelaide University skipper Nick Bailey tipped Kensington to win the competition because of the club’s finals experience.

Prospect captain Sam Miller, who picked Tea Tree Gully as the premiership fancy, said his team needed to become more consistent to climb off the bottom of the ladder.

The season kicks off with 50-over matches for one and two-day competition points.