After a period of five seasons the permanent holders of the Kerr and Johnston Shields were decided at the end of the 1926-27 season.
With two victories in the previous five seasons Mulbring Club became the permanent holders of the Kerr Shield for B grade.
To decide the ultimate winners of the Johnston Shield for C grade, a special final was played between Abermain and Heddon Greta, which had two wins each. The match was won by Abermain and so the Johnston Shield went to that club.
With the withdrawal of Kurri Kurri at the start of the previous season, the A grade competition was reduced to five teams. Morpeth Club had its first success in the post-war senior grade competition when it won the O’Hearn Shield for the premiership. Much of its success was due to the bowling performances of N Burkinshaw, a newcomer to the district, and to the outstanding form of Gordon Bell and L Holmes.
For the A grade final, Ald. JH Waller, Mayor of West Maitland and a former Association Vice-President, donated a new shield to replace the Irwin Shield. was won by Robins which defeated Morpeth in the final. In the match Frank Cummins of Robins passed his 1000 runs for the season, including 602 in competition matches.
At Country Week the Association was represented in the Northern District team by F Cummins, C Andrews (Robins), W Jarrett(Northern Division), and J O’Hearn (Marist Bros.). The Iredale Shield for the Country Week competition was won by Northern District on averages. The Herford Cup Award for the most improved batsman at the Carnival went to Charlie Andrews who scored 305 runs, including two centuries. Jim O’Hearn had a notable bowling performance against Far North when he took 7 for 28, and Frank Cummins again attracted attention with an innings of 131 against a combined Gordon-Northern District Sydney grade team. Both Cummins and Andrews were selected to play for Country No. 1 against City. In the same Country team was a promising young cricketer from Bowral – Don Bradman – who scored 98 in the match.
Cummins and Andrews were also later chosen by the NSWCA to play in a special Country v. Metropolitan match in December, but the fixture was abandoned owing to continuous torrential rain.
The Hunter Valley Cricket Council introduced a junior competition, in addition to the John Bull Shield. The “junior” competition was limited to players under 25 years of age. The local Association however, found that the competition did not meet with the support expected from its players and found it “hard to understand the apathy exhibited”.
For the first time since World War 1 a mid-week competition was run by a Mid-Week Cricket Association which became an affiliate of the HRDCA. There were five teams in the competition – Police Sports Club, Railway, Taxi-Drivers, Post Office and Publicans. The new organisation did not have a very long life and went out of existence a couple of seasons later.
Following a recommendation from the Umpires Association, umpires were paid for their official duties and received 5/6 per afternoon. For representative matches they were allowed 10/6 per day and travelling expenses.
The Association gave a donation of a guinea to the CG Macartney Testimonial Fund. Macartney was given a Testimonial Benefit match in Sydney and the following season, at the age of 42, announced his retirement from international and first class cricket.