The Kensington District Cricket Club ("The Browns") is a semi-professional cricket club in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It competes in the South Australian Grade Cricket League, which is administered by the

South Australian Cricket Association The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) is the peak body for the sport of cricket in South Australia. The association administers the Southern Redbacks based in Adelaide. SACA is the controlling body for the South Australian Grade Cri ...

(SACA).

Location

In 1963, the City of Burnside relocated the club from the

Kensington Oval The Kensington Oval is a stadium located to the west of the capital city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. It is the pre-eminent sporting facility on the island and is primarily used for cricket. it has hosted many important and exciting c ...

to the Kensington Gardens Reserve. The club has leases over the three cricket ovals, (Parkinson Oval, Ford Oval and Col. Waite Oval) in perpetuity as compensation for this relocation.

Club history

Kensington has an extremely rich past player history, dominated by the presence of Sir

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has bee ...

and Clarrie Grimmett who played for the club in the 1930s. Other famous names to play for Kensington include

Sam Parkinson Samuel David Haslam Parkinson (born 8 August 1960) is a former Australian cricketer. Parkinson was a left-handed batsman who bowled left-arm fast-medium. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia. Parkinson played for Buckinghamshire 1981, ma ...

, Peter Brinsley,

John Inverarity Robert John Inverarity (born 31 January 1944) is a former Australian cricketer who played six Test matches. A right-handed batsman and left-arm orthodox spin bowler in his playing career, Inverarity was also one of the enduring captains in th ...

Kevin Wright Kevin Wright may refer to: *Kevin Wright (cricketer) (born 1953), Australian cricketer *Kevin Wright (Australian footballer) (1933–2003), Australian rules footballer *Kevin Wright (footballer, born 1995) Kevin Adrian Wright (born 12 December 1 ...

Brian Hurn Brian Morgan Hurn (4 March 1939 – 18 October 2015) was an Australian first-class cricketer and politician who served as Mayor of Barossa Council. Early life Born in Angaston in the Barossa Valley of South Australia, Hurn first came to ...

Ian Glover Ian Glover (born 8 November 1978) is a former professional snooker player from Doncaster. He practises at the Jeff Cundy snooker centre in Scunthorpe and the Sheffield Star Snooker Academy. His practice partners are the club's owner Jeff Cundy, ...

Neil Dansie Hampton Neil Dansie (born 2 July 1928) is a former first-class cricketer and long-term administrator for South Australia. Early life Nicknamed "Nodder" due to his habit of nodding in agreement when in conversation, Dansie was born in Nuriootpa ...

Rex Sellers Rex Samuel Sellers (born 11 November 1950) is a yachtman from New Zealand. He won a gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and a silver medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, both in the Tornado class with Chris Timms. He ...

, Bob Lloyd,

Ashley Woodcock Ashley James Woodcock (born 27 February 1947) is a former Australian cricketer who played in one Test match and one One Day International in 1974. A right-handed batsman from Adelaide, he played for South Australia in Australian domestic crick ...

Terry Jenner Terrence James Jenner (8 September 1944 – 25 May 2011) was an Australian cricketer who played nine Tests and one ODI from 1970 to 1975. He was primarily a leg-spin bowler and was known for his attacking, loopy style of bowling, but he was al ...

, Jeff Hammond,

Howard Mutton Howard Mutton (21 October 1924 – 20 November 1992) was an Australian cricketer. He played in five first-class matches for South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australi ...

, James Brayshaw, Tim May,

Jamie Siddons James Darren Siddons (born 25 April 1964) is an Australian cricketer, renowned for his involvement in Sheffield Shield first-class cricket over a 16-year career. He initially played for Victoria, and later for South Australia. He is currently a ...

, Mark Cleary, Greg Blewett,

Dean Waugh Dean Parma Waugh (born 3 February 1969) is a former Australian first-class cricketer who played a match for New South Wales and also represented South Australia at list A level. Although he only had a brief career in Australian domestic cricke ...

and Michael Klinger. Kensington has won 16 A Grade premierships and has been runner up on 6 other occasions. The most recent A grade premiership was in the 2010/2011 season. The club also won the One Day premiership currently known as the XXXX Gold One Day Cup in 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2009/10. Kensington also celebrated its first Twenty20 premiership, winning the 2006/07 title. Kensington were the second club behind Sturt Cricket Club to attempt to win all three A grade premierships in a season. Sturt was defeated by Kensington in the One Day final in 2005/06 and Kensington was defeated by West Torrens Cricket Club in the 2006/07 Grade Final after already claiming the One Day and Twenty20 Premierships.

Teams

The club has four senior men's teams and three women's teams in the SACA Competition. The men's A, B, C and D grade sides compete in two day, one day and

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

games. The club also has 4 junior teams, in under 14's and 16's. Players from these teams also play in the Ray Sutton Shield (primary school age), u12 statewide cup and u17 BankSA Shield carnivals. Kensington also has an under 11 and under 13 combined 'academy', who receive training and play internal matches, as well as unofficial matches against similar squads from other Grade clubs and college primary A sides, in the absence of a structured SACA under 13 competition. Kensington also has a team in the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association Amateur Competition. Currently the team features past players that are no longer up to the rigours of semi-professional cricket. The team is in the Limited Overs A grade competition.

2008–2009 season

Kensington recruited

Aaron O'Brien Aaron Warren O'Brien (born 2 October 1981) is an Australian cricketer. He has played first class cricket for New South Wales. He was Middleton Cricket Club's professional deputising for the injured Brendon Reddy for the match against Crompton. ...

and Michael Klinger, two first-class interstate players that signed with the

South Australian Redbacks The South Australia cricket team, officially named the West End Redbacks, is an Australian men's professional first-class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia. The Redbacks play their home matches at Adelaide Oval and are the state c ...

. Kensington have four members in the Redbacks squad for the 2008/09 season, with Jake Brown and Mark Cleary also securing contracts. Former West Torrens, Redback and Australian representative Matthew Elliot also signed with the club after retiring from representative cricket last season. Long time servant and playing member of the club, John Palmer Junior was appointed coach for 2008/09 season. Jake Brown captained the Browns, taking over from

. Kensington played

Glenelg Cricket Club Glenelg District Cricket Club (the "Seahorses") are a Grade Cricket team located in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was founded in 1907. Their official website is http://www.gdcc.net.au Glenelg competes in the South Australian Grade Cricket L ...

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby ...

on 1 February 2009 in the XXXX Gold One Day Cup Final. Winning the toss, Kensington skipper Jake Brown elected to bat and were bowled out for 153 in the 48th over. Glenelg overhauled the score in the 41st over with the loss of only three wickets. Kensington have now appeared in five One Day Cup finals this decade with a 60% win rate. The Kensington A grade side made it through to the XXXX Golde Grade Cup semi-finals after finishing third on the table in the regular season. Pitted against 2007/08 season's premiers

Woodville Cricket Club Woodville may refer to one of the following: Places Australia *Woodville, New South Wales *Woodville, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide **Woodville railway station, Adelaide Canada *Woodville, Ontario *Woodville, Nova Scotia New Zealand *Wood ...

. Club veteran Jamie Panelli took seven wickets to dismiss Woodville for 80. Woodville ended Kensington's season by then bowling the Browns out for 71.

2009–2010 season

Kensington maintained Jake Brown as the club captain and John Palmer Junior as coach. Brown lost his rookie contract with the Redbacks while Cleary, Klinger and O'Brien maintained their contracts. Sam McNeil was selected to represent the South Australia under 23s Futures Team. Tom Brinsley is in the Australian under 19 squad for 2009/10. It was also the 40th Anniversary of the Melbourne Cricket Club and Kensington Cricket Club association which sees an annual match between the two clubs, alternating venue each year. Kensington won their third XXXX Gold One Day Cup for the decade, defeating Northern Districts at Adelaide Oval on 14 February 2010. Batting first, the Browns posted 193 set up by James Hilditch and Aaron O'Brien. The Jets were in early trouble at 5 for 23 and then 6 for 61 before a late order partnership pushed Northerns to 7 for 159 but eventually bowled out for 172 with lone hand of Steven Marks 78 not out the only real resistance. Mark Cleary and Elliot Opie took three wickets each in an all-round effort by the Browns. Kensington finished ninth on the table in the 2009/10 season.

2010–2011 season

Kensington signed

Rob Cassell Robert James Cassell (born 28 April 1983 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian cricketer and international coach who played first-class cricket for the Victorian Bushrangers and South Australian Redbacks and also represented Australia in the ...

after he was recruited by SACA for the state side. The Browns unable to defend their One Day title after being losing to Woodville in the semi-final. They did make the Two Day Grand Final after defeating Woodville in another low-scoring affair. Kensington then went on to defeat minor premiers Sturt at Adelaide Oval on 26 and 27 March 2011.

2015–2016 season

Kensington again was captained by Jake Brown and were coached by Ben Johnswood. The A Grade finished 4th and were knocked out in the semi-finals by Tea Tree Gully. It was a successful season with

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which he collaborated wi ...

Daniel Worrall Daniel James Worrall (born 10 July 1991) is an Australian–English cricketer. He played for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield competition and for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League. He was selected to play for Australia in 2016. ...

and

Elliot Opie Elliot Opie (born 16 April 1991) is an Australian cricketer. He made his first-class debut for South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most ar ...

all playing for the state side during the year.

References

External links

KCC official site

SACA
{{South Australian Grade Cricket South Australian Grade Cricket clubs 1871 establishments in Australia Cricket clubs established in 1871