Champion Coby claims most dismissals in the 2019-20 SACA Premier Cricket comp

Former Narrabri District Cricket Association representative first XI vice-captain and 2017-18 War Veterans Cup champion Coby Cornish has had another standout year in the sport.

After the NDCA’s War Veterans Cup grand final win back in February 2018, Coby, the son of Steve and Bec Cornish, relocated to the Barossa Valley with his family.

The wicketkeeper batsman joined South Australian Cricket Association Premier Cricket side East Torrens District Cricket Club and has since established himself as the first grade gloveman.

During his successful time at the club, the 20-year-old has won two first grade grand finals.

The first was in the 2018-19 season when his team won the SACA Premier Cricket West End T20 Cup by eight wickets against Port Adelaide on January 20, 2019.

The second was this year on Sunday, February 2, when his team downed Adelaide University in the 2019-20 SACA Premier Cricket West End One Day Cup grand final by 39 runs.

That grand final was actually the second time that East Torrens had played in this year after it was defeated in the 2019-20 SACA Premier Cricket West End T20 Cup decider by 17 runs by Adelaide University on Sunday, January 19.

Cornish and his East Torrens teammates were determined to reach a third-straight 2019-20 grand final which would have been played on March 28 and 29.

That was the SACA Premier Cricket West End men’s two-day first grade competition.

However, while the competition’s regular season was completed the semi-finals and grand final were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

East Torrens had claimed one of the four semi-final spots and had its sights set on grand final glory.

The side finished the regular season ranked third on the 13-team ladder to qualify for another highly-anticipated showdown against second-placed Adelaide University.

Those two teams both finished on 195 points, just five behind first-placed Kensington (200 points), but Adelaide University claimed the higher ranking as it boasted a competition-best 1.8546 nett run rate percentage compared to East Torrens’ 1.7422.

In the other semi-final Kensington was scheduled to go head-to-head against fourth-placed Adelaide.

While the cancellation of the finals was a disappointing way to finish the 2019-20 campaign it was still a season to remember for Cornish.

He finished third in the CW Walker Wicketkeeper Trophy running during a season in which he claimed a competition-best 37 dismissals across all formats.

Limited opportunities with the bat cost him the chance to win that trophy, but he still managed 150 runs in 12 innings at an average of 25.

Cornish told The Courier that he enjoyed the season.

“It was a good season,” he said.

“We had a pretty well-rounded side this year, quite a few young fellas and a couple of English fellas as well who really boosted the team.

“We lost the T20 final which was a bit upsetting because we definitely could have beat that side (Adelaide Uni) but then getting over them in the one day final was good.

“We were then supposed to play them in the semi-final, it would have been good to play them, our team and that team, Adelaide Uni, were probably the top two teams over all formats for the season.

“Whoever won that semi most likely would have went on to win the grand final as well.

“It was quite disappointing, I thought we had a really good chance to be honest.”

Cornish said that he was looking forward to playing for East Torrens again in the 2020-21 campaign.