ADCA 2025-26: Park give champs Mt Barker a fright while Denmark return to A-grade with upset win over Railways

Collingwood Park gave defending premiers Mt Barker a fright while Denmark marked their return to the A-grade in style as the Albany and Districts Cricket Association A-grade competition started on Saturday. Park ran out of batsmen with victory within their sights at Turf South while at McLean Park Denmark’s first A-grade appearance since 2019-2020 ended with a comfortable home win over last season’s grand finalists Railways. Park’s Sam Osborne could not bat after breaking a thumb while fielding, leaving them just six runs short of the Bulls’ total of 188 when Jaymon Spaanderman was caught for a duck in the 44th over of their reply. The injury, which could keep Osborne out for six weeks, turned out to be a double whammy because while it meant he could not bat at his usual number five spot, he also dropped a catch which could have removed Jeremy Wood. Wood made 44, launching the Bulls recovery after they had lost their first four wickets for a paltry 34 runs. In tandem with Jarrad Gardner, who made a magnificent 82 off 109 balls, they gave their side a defendable total of 188. However, Park were left ruing their inability to finish off their opponents — something which skipper Jesse Spaanderman felt had been their Achilles heel last season. “We could have won with six overs to spare but the injury, two silly run-outs and some poor shot selection cost us,” he said. “We played really well and keeping them to 180-odd was really good, but it was just those little things which stopped us getting over the line again. “We started brilliantly and though we just lost our way a bit when Wood and Gardner were in, we should have finished them off.” The Park reply started well despite O’Shea Durack being run out for a duck. Oli Clark grabbed 33, Leroy van den Dool smashed 58 before being run out and then Buddy Robinson walloped two sixes in his impressive 62. At 4-129, Park looked poised but only Jaymon Spaanderman reached double figures after that and they were left ruing those upper-order run-outs. They finished on 9-182 after 43.1 overs. Wood and import Sam Keeling-Wright were the pick of the Bulls bowlers with two wickets apiece while Jaymon Spaanderman did most of the damage for Park, finishing with impressive figures of 5-39 off nine overs. Gardner said the Bulls were lucky to pick up the points. “It felt really good to hang on, but we were fortunate to get over the line,” he said. “I was happy just to get a few runs for the team, but it was a really close game with lots of momentum swings.” Meanwhile, the Magpies cruised to victory, passing the Tigers’ total of 176 in 37.3 overs for the loss of three wickets. Matt Burton top-scored for the Magpies with 40 off 37 balls, striking seven fours in the process. His partnership of 75 with Peter Ross, who was also unbeaten on 31 at the close, saw them home. Having won the toss, the Tigers’ top order did their bit with Devon Jefferis top-scoring with 44 while skipper Coen Marwick chipped in with 42 to take them to a healthy 4-149. However, after Milan Jaggi was caught by Jake Schwarzbach off the bowling of his brother Jed, the tail faded away and the visitors were dismissed for 176 in only 31.3 overs. Causing the Tigers all sorts of problems was Magpies’ Lochlan Otway, who took 4-34 in his eight overs while Jed Schwarzbach was also in fine form, earning figures of 3-25 off 6.3 overs.