SACA Premier Cricket season preview: Tearaway paceman Aaron Summers has a licence to thrill as he targets Redbacks spot
Woodville’s gun pace recruit is hoping to have an immediate impact and light up the new SACA Premier Cricket season. See how the side shapes up plus all the ins, outs and coach comments for every team.
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Aaron Summers feels the need for speed.
Clocking the fastest delivery in BBL07 when he hit 151km/h in his one game for the Hobart Hurricanes against Melbourne Renegades, the 23-year-old firebrand wants to deliver some chin music in men’s SACA Premier Cricket this season.
“I like bowling quick, it’s exciting,’’ Summers said.
“I grew up following (former Australian express bowlers) Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson and I love it when I’m bowling at top speed and have batsmen jumping around with short balls and yorkers.
“Being able to bowl fast, intimidate people and blast them out, it’s a really good feeling.”
Born in Western Australia, Summers — not overly tall at 186cm — has arrived in South Australia to try to regain a State contract.
The tearaway spent two years on Tasmania’s contract list before being cut at the end of last season.
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He still has a Big Bash League contract with the Hurricanes.
“I felt there was a spot for an out-and-out quick here in Adelaide and that it could be my best opportunity to gain a contract at the end of the season,’’ Summers said.
“The Redbacks have some fine bowlers but there isn’t really anyone who is lightning fast — and there’s been some injuries in their bowling stocks — so if I can bowl well something might open up for me.’’
Summers has joined Woodville through his association with the club’s Darwin connection — Redbacks all-rounder Tom Andrews and rookie-listed batsman-wicketkeeper Jacob Dickman.
He has spent the past four winters playing cricket in the Northern Territory’s Strike League for the City Cyclones where he put a rival batsman in hospital with a fractured finger and a smashed knuckle.
A Hurricanes teammate of new England quick Jofra Archer, who gave the Australian batsmen the hurry up in the recent Ashes Series, Summers has a reputation as a white-ball specialist, having also played three JLT One-Day Cup games for Tasmania and two Twenty20s for the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League.
Aggressive on the field but softly spoken off it, he believes he can be successful in the longer form of the game and is training with the Redbacks’ main and emerging squads.
Summers, who didn’t start playing cricket until he was 13 and then realised he could bowl fast — “I played baseball and had a fairly strong shoulder and arm,’’ he said — believes that if he can stay physically sound he could reach the magical 160km/h mark.
“I reckon I can get quicker,’’ he said.
“You aren’t supposed to be at your peak as a quick until you’re 26 or 27, so if I put the hard work in then hopefully I’ll be able to find some more air speed.’’
Summers is one of a host of key recruits that have come from interstate or overseas to ply their trade in SACA Premier Cricket this season.
Among the notables are Western Australian batsman Will Bosisto, who has played 23 first-class matches and will line up for Adelaide University, ACT/NSW Country Futures League star batsman Henry Hunt (Kensington), Australian under-19s allrounder Liam Scott (Glenelg), Nepalese allrounder Sunam Gautam (Southern District), who made last season’s Victorian Premier Cricket team of the year, and a host of Englishmen.
There are four new coaches, with 102-times West Indian Test representative Carl Hooper leading a new-look Stingrays outfit, former Australian speedster Tait taking over flag contender Adelaide, former Test allrounder Peter Sleep mentoring Woodville and former England first-class player Steve Stubbings guiding East Torrens.
The season starts on Saturday.
HOW THE TEAMS SHAPE UP
ADELAIDE
Last season: Second.
Captain: Cameron Valente.
Redbacks: Wes Agar, Ben Pengelley, Cameron Valente, Patrick Page.
In: Patrick Page (Tea Tree Gully), Wes Agar (Victoria), Suraj Rajesh, Samyak Jain (Southern District), Euan Fletcher (Kensington).
Out: Michael Cormack (East Torrens), Sam Raphael, Phil Neate (retired), Nick Patterson (Marion).
Key man: Ben Pengelley.
Coach says: “We made the two-day grand final last season and while we’ve lost some key players, we’ve recruited well. Our aim is to be super competitive again and play in the finals of all three formats — two-day, one-day and Twenty20. We have a good mix of youth and experience, which tends to work in cricket, and I think our strength will be in our allrounders. Ben and Josh Pengelley, Valente, Page and Trevor Keen can all bat and bowl, which gives us plenty of options. If we don’t turn out to be one of the stronger teams this season then I reckon we would have done something wrong.’’ — Shaun Tait.
ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY
Last season: Fourth.
Captain: Ben Wakim.
Redbacks: Joe Mennie, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter.
In: Will Bosisto (Western Australia), Campbell Vadlja (Victoria).
Out: Grant Stewart (England).
Key man: Will Bosisto.
Coach says: “We’ve been around the mark, had a good taste of finals in the past couple of years, but unfortunately haven’t won any silverware. We’re aspiring to do that this season. Having Bosisto on board gives us a real quality all-rounder — we know he can bat but his offspinners are underrated — while Vadlja is another good addition, having made a century in Victorian Premier Cricket last season. It will be a tough competition, with so many quality players from interstate joining our clubs, but we think adding a couple of exciting pieces can take us the step forward that we are busting for.’’ — Ben Hilliard.
EAST TORRENS
Last season: 10th.
Captain: Michael Cranmer.
Redbacks: Jake Lehmann, Luke Robins, Adam Zampa.
In: Michael Cormack (Adelaide), Henry Dall (Kensington), Tom Lace, Alfie Gleadall (England).
Out: Ben Dougall (retired).
Key man: Luke Robins.
“We have a young, talented squad plus several excellent, experienced leaders, so the ingredients are there for us to do well. Our young guys certainly play with no fear and I think this is a great strength and was underlined by our Twenty20 success last season (winning the SACA competition and representing the State at the national championships). The boys can take great belief from that achievement and when our young guys are able to turn their promising potential into consistent performances, I’m sure we can also have success in other formats.’’ — Steve Stubbings.
GLENELG
Last season: Fifth.
Captain: Chadd Sayers.
Redbacks: Alex Carey, Chadd Sayers.
In: Liam Scott (NSW).
Out: Tom Plant (Adelaide Uni coaching director), Daniel Clarke (Sturt), Nathan Schollar (retired).
Key man: Jake Winter.
Coach says: “We’ve lost Plant, our all-time leading runscorer, to retirement, which will hurt. Schollar is another experienced player who we’ll miss while our leading batsman from last season, Jake Winter, needs hip surgery and will miss some cricket. Scott (NSW and Australian under-age player) will be a terrific addition, with both bat and ball. Josh Hoffmann walked away halfway through last season for personal reasons and he’s back playing and enjoying cricket again, so he’ll be like a recruit. We’ve made a lot of semi-finals in the past couple of seasons but for one reason or another we haven’t been as composed as we’ve needed to be in the big moments to win any silverware. Hopefully we’ve learnt our lesson.’’ — Grant Francis.
KENSINGTON
Last season: First.
Captain: Elliot Opie.
Redbacks: John Dalton, David Grant, Henry Hunt, Lloyd Pope, Alex Ross, Daniel Worrall.
In: Henry Hunt (Canberra).
Out: Henry Dall (East Torrens), Paul Allegretto (retired), Euan Fletcher (Adelaide).
Key man: Jake Brown.
Coach says: “We’ve been consistent over a long period of time and we want to continue to play at the same level. Our aim is to always play finals and then hopefully perform well in them. We’ll have Opie (having lost his Redbacks contract) more often this year and there’s some talented kids coming through in Tom van der Jeugd, Sam Rahaley and Christian Letticoat to balance our list with the experienced players. Hunt comes with a good reputation from the Futures League and has already bought into our club. He adds some more depth and class to an already strong line-up.’’ — Russell Thompson.
NORTHERN DISTRICTS
Last season: 12th.
Captain: Mark Cosgrove.
Redbacks: Nil.
In: Callum Parkinson (England), Gareth Cox (Adelaide Uni).
Out: Dylan Smith, Liam Toovey (Port Adelaide), Tim Rouse, James Harris (England), Trent and Kirk Pascoe (retired).
Key man: Mark Cosgrove.
Coach says: “It will be an interesting season for us because we’ve lost some experience but we’ll back in some of the kids that we have coming through and are excited about — Cameron Laird, Cooper Thompson, Jake Hartigan and Kabir Luthra. Hopefully they can keep maturing and start playing some good, consistent first grade cricket. We’ll field a decent side and when everyone is up and running — Parkinson will be a good addition from Leicestershire — then we’ll be a dangerous side.’’ — Mark Cosgrove.
PORT ADELAIDE
Last season: Seventh.
Captain: Nick Benton.
Redbacks: Tom Cooper.
In: Stuart Coles (Woodville), Zac Worden (Tea Tree Gully), Dylan Smith, Liam Toovey (Northern Districts), James Hayes (England).
Out: Nick Kartas, Aaron Elliott (season off), Peter Ahern (Adelaide Turf).
Key man: Nick Benton.
Coach says: “We’ve been competitive and have put some nice performances on the board in the past few seasons but it’s time to take the next step and challenge for silverware. Our ambition is to be the best team in the competition. We’re not there yet but we think we’re on the way. We’ve recruited well and believe our batting will be our strong suit. Benton and Jordy Thomas will lead our bowling attack and we’ll probably be deep with spin bowling, which will be something different for us. I’m not sure the competition plays spin that well, so that might work in our favour.’’ — Matthew Weeks.
PROSPECT
Last season: 13th.
Captain: Ben Turley.
Redbacks: Nil.
In: Ross Richardson (England), Cameron Bradley (Sturt).
Out: Sam Miller (Ballarat).
Key man: Ben Turley.
Coach says: “We hope to be very competitive and if we play our best cricket we might be around the mark at the end of the season. Miller will be a big loss because he's been so good for us for a long time. That’s 500 runs we are going to lose. But we have some stability and will field pretty much the same side as last season. One of our strengths will be our flexibility, with quite a few allrounders, including Turley and Izaac Boylan. We’re hoping young, left-arm spinner Krutarth Suthar can play an important role for us.’’ — Andrew Zesers.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT
Last season: 11th.
Captain: Josh Barrett.
Redbacks: Nil.
In: Sunam Gautam (Victoria), Ben Cox, Lewis Hatchett, Ben Twohig, Marcus Critchley (England), Kirstan Kallicharran (West Indies), Ashish Pokhrel (Nepal), Tom Joraslafsky, Dean Miller (returned), Trent Riddle (ICC Sharks).
Out: Suraj Rajesh, Samyak Jain (Adelaide), Cole Davey (Kangarilla).
Key man: Josh Barrett.
Coach says: “We have managed to assemble a really good bunch of cricketers from all over the world, and some good locals too. Gautam is the first Nepali cricketer to make the Victorian Premier Cricket team of the year and is a right-hand batsman and right-arm offspinner, who is really exciting. There’s some real talent and experience among our Englishmen while Tom Joraslafsky has returned to the club. Our goal is to chase continuous improvement and with the depth of quality we’ve added — we have had unprecedented numbers at training — we think we’ll be extremely competitive.’’ — Carl Hooper.
STURT
Last season: Sixth.
Captain: Brad Davis.
Redbacks: Nil.
In: Daniel Clarke (Glenelg).
Out: Euan Woods, Brinder Phagura (England).
Key man: Brad Davis.
Coach says: “We’ll continue to invest in our kids. People would be aware of the Kelly brothers (Corey and Tom), (Connor) Dudley and Charlie Parker, who we’ve put a lot of games into in the past couple of seasons. The other two that will probably be exposed regularly to first grade level are Angus Judd and Hanno Jacobs, who are leading our next wave. We haven’t recruited because we want to continue to develop from within. It’s a powerful message that we need to send through our whole junior system. We’ve still played in red and white ball finals in the past two seasons and think that we can knock on the door again and win a title in the next year or two.’’ — Ben Cameron.
TEA TREE GULLY
Last season: Third.
Captain: Matthew Weaver.
Redbacks: Travis Head.
In: Joe Gatting, Darren Ironside (England).
Out: Patrick Page (Adelaide), Tim Oakley (West Torrens), Ben Hutchinson (England), Zac Worden (Port Adelaide), Tim Evans, Brad Evans (retired).
Key man: Adam Somerfield.
Coach says: “We have come towards the end of a successful cycle, with some key, experienced players retiring, while there’s been some unplanned changes with guys joining other clubs. So it’s a bit of transition phase. But I’d like to think we’ve had a bit of depth for some time and that some guys, who could have been playing regular first grade cricket at other clubs, will get more of an opportunity to show what they can do for us. I’m hoping blokes like Matthew Cuconits, Corey Polyak, Jack Holliday, Ben Atkinson and Josh Macey can go to the next level and, with some senior heads still around, take the steering wheel and look after the direction of how the first grade wants to play.’’ — Matthew Weaver.
WEST TORRENS
Last season: Ninth.
Captain: Daniel Drew.
Redbacks: Callum Ferguson, Spencer Johnson, Tim Oakley, Kane Richardson.
In: Tim Oakley (Tea Tree Gully), Josh Dascombe (Queensland), Kamau Leverock (England).
Out: Kelvin Smith (WA), Martin Anderssen (England).
Key man: Daniel Drew.
Coach says: “Smith is a big loss, given he holds the club record for centuries (13) at the age of 24, but we’ve recruited pretty well. We’ve had a few pre-season setbacks with some of our bowlers (Johnson, foot; Leverock, back; and Nick Maegraith, knee), but Oakley had an outstanding season for Tea Tree Gully last campaign and we’re hoping he can go to an even higher level. Dascombe comes into the side to fill an all-rounder’s spot. I’m excited by our young, homegrown batsmen — Bailey Capel, Erik Carrington, Lachie Pointon and Nick Crouch — who have come a long way in the past couple of years and look to have bright futures.’’ — Mark Harrity.
WOODVILLE
Last season: Eighth.
Captain: Harry Nielsen.
Redbacks: Tom Andrews, Jacob Dickman, Conor McInerney, Harry Nielsen.
In: Aaron Summers (Tasmania).
Out: Stuart Coles (Port Adelaide).
Key man: Tom Andrews.
Coach says: “Pace bowling has been an issue for us, so Summers will give us a big boost. We’ll make Woodville Oval a green top and with him bowling up to 150km/h it will frighten a few blokes. We think we can make the finals but a lot will depend on what happens with State representation. Moving forward, I don’t want to have to rely on our State players and aim to build a squad of 15 first graders, so that we have some depth and that when you have your State players available it is a bonus, not a necessity.’’ — Peter Sleep.