ADCA 2025-26: Grigson belts 93 as Royals finish regular season in style to top table, set up Manypeaks clash

Royals finished the regular season with a flourish on Saturday, walloping Denmark to take top spot in the Albany and Districts Cricket Association A-grade ladder and lead the way into the 2025-26 finals campaign. They pipped long-time table-toppers Manypeaks, who finished second ahead of defending premiers Mt Barker. The Bulls lost momentum as the season wore on and will now have to see off Collingwood Park on Saturday in an elimination final if they are to progress further. Playing on Turf North, the Lions were in top batting form, with opener Harry Grigson firing 93 and Leighton Smith (57) bagging a welcome half-century from the middle of the order. There were welcome contributions also from Jack Hastie, who was unbeaten on 28, his effort coming at a rate of one a ball, and 20 from Mitch Green, who was going nicely until he was run out by Campbell Robertson. Lewis Culver was the Magpies’ most reliable bowler with 3-51, but the Lions’ 8-262 was going to take some beating, and so it proved as the Magpies were dismissed for 157. Cooper Barlow made 51 but was run out as Green got revenge for his own dismissal, while Peter Ross was unbeaten on 40. The lower order, however, did not help, with the last five batters managing just 15 runs between them as Hastie (3-22) and Hayden Davies (3-40) had a profitable afternoon. The 105-run loss brought the Magpies’ season to a close, their four wins for the campaign taking them to fifth on the ladder, missing out on finals. However, having dominated B-grade for the last five seasons, skipper Robertson was happy with the way the new challenge went overall. “The guys have done really well, probably better than I was expecting,” he said. “I think because we got a couple of wins in early, we felt a bit down when a few results went against us. “We’ve not always had the pick of our first XI, but we have really enjoyed the step up to A-grade. “There’s no regrets about moving up at all.” The Lions, meanwhile, march on and will tackle Manypeaks with a grand final spot at stake on Saturday. Along with the Magpies, Railways also brought their season to a close, battling hard but ultimately losing to Collingwood Park on Saturday by eight wickets. The Tigers’ Billy O’Meara (59) and Devon Jefferis (73) put on 124 for the second wicket in a marvellous stand, but other than that high-scoring pair, only Milan Jaggi (16) reached double figures. The collapse was complete as the Tigers went from looking good at 3-166, when Jefferis departed, caught by wicketkeeper Oli Clark off O’Shea Durack, to 191 all out. Durack took 4-37 and was key to removing the Tigers’ middle order. There was early joy for Tigers in the Park reply as Jesse Spaanderman was trapped lbw by Coen Marwick for eight and then Dylan Belward was caught and bowled by Marwick for 24. But that just brought Durack and Buddy Robinson to the crease — and then it was game over. Durack added 80 runs to his four wickets, while Robinson was unbeaten on 65 as Park reached 2-192 and cemented an elimination final meeting with the Bulls on Saturday.