Southern District have gone 20 points clear on top of the SACA club championship after sweeping Port Adelaide in all four grades on the weekend. With only 2 rounds (8 games) to go before finals, the Stingrays need to win at least 6 of our last 8 games to guarantee the clubs first Scrymgour club championship shield which is presented to the club with the highest aggregate points for A, B, C and D Grades at the end of the minor rounds.A grade easily accounted for Port with a 179 runs win over thanks to a fine spell of bowling from skipper Simon Roberts who took 5/27. Michael Delaney (3/49) continued his good form with the ball taking 2 early wickets as Port stumbled in their chase of the stingrays 9/349 dec. This massive total was built largely thanks to DLCA import Lewis Hill (89), Michael Delaney proving he is no mug with the bat (73) and an unbeaten 45* from budding all-rounder Robbie McCard. The A grade currently sit 6th on the ladder and must beat premiers Woodville and this seasons one-day premiers Kensington in the final two rounds to progress to the finals.
In the B grade Danny Irvine became only the 2nd Stingray opener to carry his bat through an innings posting an impressive 138* to guide Southern past the 9/240dec total set by Port the previous week. Port Adelaide would be ruing the decision to declare 5 overs short of their full 80 overs and put Southern in for 2 overs one day one. Irvine combined with Scott Heywood (66) in a 129 run stand that set up the run chase and saw the B's cruise by the total and finish at 5/255. The result leaves the B's sitting 2nd behind Northern District on the ladder and headed for finals action.
The C grade easily accounted for Port Adelaide chasing the 140 run total only 4 wickets down before going on to post 207 thanks to 65 runs from Chris O'Connor. The previous week saw leg spinner Daniel Rogers tear through Port taking 4/27 from 17 overs. The C grade sit comfortably on top of the ladder and will be looking to continue their winning form heading into the finals. The C grade backed up this effort to destroy Adelaide University in their re-scheduled round 8 match on Sunday with Jason Samarcq taking 3/21 and making Kuang Tan 35* as the Stingrays 2/76 defeated Uni 10/75.
The D grade snuck past Port Adelaide's total of 96 by posting 10/147 thanks to 55no from Cory McIvor. The D's found ways to consistently loose wickets, but McIvor steadied the ship and saw his team home for a vital win. Sunday's rescheduled round 8 match vs Uni saw the D's go down by 4 runs chasing Uni's 9/197. Jarrod McCormack and Rhys Button both took 3 wickets to restrict the Blacks to a gettable target at Bice Oval, but the run chase stumbled at the end with the stingrays losing regular wickets. Abe Moore contributed with 44, Blake Trigg 41, and Dave Sboro 39, but none could kick on for a big match winning score to secure the game for their team. The D grade need to win both of their final 2 games to have any chance of playing finals cricket.
