In Round 1 of the 2009-10 HCCA competition we saw the Kingston Crows A grade do battle with reigning premiers Slab Road with a typically close result, this time Slab Road by 15 runs, B1 demolished Huonville at home and B2 put in a blow standard performance at Judbury. C grade had a bye first up.

At Slab Road the home side batted first and with their opener Stuart Clark batting through the innings with a century saw them reach 206 when dismissed in the 49^th over. Our guys did well to hold them to that total as they had reached 2/104 at the halfway mark of their innings. Jamie Knott took 4-33 and Robert Chapman 2/31.

Our top order then played pretty well with Dan Elliott 44, Hamish Jamieson 23, Joel Palmer 24 and Jamie Knott 28 having us extremely well placed at 3/138 after 34 overs. Against Slab Road the game isn’t over until the final run is scored and they fought back to take the next 3 wickets for the addition of only 9 runs. Adam Hinkley and Mal Godfrey played reasonably well but it wasn’t enough to get us over the line.

At home B1 batted first and Marc Owen produced one of the most electrifying innings in recent times. After 15 overs the score line read 0/124 with Owen 107no. When he was dismissed for 132 he had added 177 for the 1^st wicket with James Murray. Murray then exploded himself as he scored his maiden century and dominating a 2^nd wicket stand of 107 with recruit John Ioannou. James was dismissed for 116, Ioannou 44 and Chris Honner 28. David Bain remained 39no and Damien Pearce 28no as the Crows finished with an amazing total of 4/421.

Huonville were soon in deeper trouble as they lost wickets at regular intervals being dismissed for 62 in the 13^th over. Sam Peacock 4/24 and Shannon Woolley 4/38 were the only bowlers required.

B2 batted first and were never in the hunt making only 83 and being dismissed in the 27^th over. Only newcomer Adrian Pereira 23 batting at No.6 showed any sort of form.

In reply Judbury were soon in trouble at 2/16 thanks to some good work by Dean Heywood, however there wasn’t to be much further joy other than a wicket to Gab Lefleur as the opposition reached their target in the 19^th over. Dean finished with figures of 2/16.