West Torrens soars past premiers Adelaide University to book last finals place in SACA Premier Cricket

History repeated in a dramatic final round of the SACA Premier Cricket season, with a struggling club again causing an upset to determine the finals spots.

An impressive win in the last round of play has landed a SACA Premier Cricket club a finals berth as last season’s premier falls out of the top four in dramatic fashion.

Adelaide University remarkably drew with bottom-placed Southern District – who only had one remaining wicket – to drop out of the four, allowing West Torrens to leapfrog them into finals.

It makes the second straight year Southern District have helped the Eagles to the postseason, after the Stingrays survived with one batter left to draw with Sturt last year.

Glenelg also defeated top team Sturt but missed out on finals, falling 10 points below West Torrens.

We’ve got all the biggest storylines after an action-packed final round before finals.

Eagles soar to finals with big win

Spinner Daniel Fallins took six wickets against Adelaide last weekend. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

West Torrens is relieved to be playing finals after a huge win against Adelaide, according to coach Mark Harrity.

The Eagles needed Adelaide University to lose or draw if it was to get a win against the Buffalos, and everything went to plan.

With Uni unable to bowl Southern District out, the Eagles gained a finals appearance, Daniel Fallins’ brilliant six-wicket performance seeing his side nearly bowl Adelaide out twice.

“The season yet again came down to the final ball in a Southern District game and their draw with Uni has thankfully allowed us to finish fourth,” Harrity said.

“We are quite relieved to be playing finals considering we only lost two games this season and played one less than other teams.

“Sturt are a quality team and have been top all season so we will have to be at our best this weekend if we want to get to the grand final.”

2021 premier falls short of finals

Uni captain Will Bosisto was superb with the bat against Southern District but his team fell at the final hurdle and will miss out on finals. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

After winning the 2020-21 A Grade shield, Adelaide University crashed out of the finals race with an upset draw to bottom-placed Southern District.

Uni batted strongly on Saturday, a superb 179 not out by Kyle Brazell and 166 not out from captain Will Bosisto leading them to a declared total of 355.

The side then struggled to bowl their opponent however – the Stingrays surviving a full Sunday to finish with a total of 9-316 and leave with a draw.

Matt Sugg starred for Southern District with an innings of 146.

The result was possibly the most surprising this season, and gave West Torrens a guaranteed spot in this weekend’s semi-final against Sturt.

Glenelg ‘frustrated’ with postseason miss

Josh Croom took an impressive 5-66 with the ball for Glenelg against Sturt, but his team failed to secure a finals spot. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The Seahorses failed to secure finals this season despite an impressive win over top-spot Sturt on Sunday.

If not for a win by West Torrens, the Seahorses would have been through on percentage, but they went home empty-handed.

It is not the first time they’ve been ousted by the Eagles this season – the club losing to West Torrens just weeks ago in the one-day cup final.

Coach Sam McNally said he was proud of his players despite falling short.

“I’m proud of the boys’ efforts this season. We played an aggressive style of cricket that was good to watch and were able to win a semi-final in the one-day comp which was a step forward for the group,” McNally said.

“It shows you how hard it is to make finals in this competition.

“You need a lot of things to go your way and we were a bit unfortunate with schedule changes and weather.”

Unlikely Tea Tree Gully takes second spot after Kensi loss

Patrick Page was again strong for Tea Tree Gully, leading the way with the bat against East Torrens. Picture: Mark Brake

Woodville’s unlikely win over Kensington opened the door for Tea Tree Gully to take second spot, and the Bulls did just that.

Luke Francesca’s 6-39 performance with the ball held Kensington to 232 runs, and with some subsequent Harvey Brennan (139 not out) heroics with the bat, the team pulled off a big win.

TTG batted consistently against East Torrens – Patrick Page leading the way with 80 – and 10 combined wickets from Somerfield, Oakley and Atkinson kept the Eastern Reds to a low score of 159.

The Bulls pursued an outright win after Sturt lost to Glenelg, but were unable to grab the extra 10 points on offer to move up to first, meaning they will host third-placed Kensington at Petaringa Oval this Saturday, while the Blues host West Torrens at Price Memorial Oval.