Tara Murray
Sunshine YCW timed its run to perfection claiming not one but two Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 5 premierships.
The Cougars first XI was able to get the job done against Seabrook on the weekend, with the second XI beating Jacana in its grand final less than an hour later.
Cougars president Shaun Janetzki was lost for words in the aftermath of realising they had won two premierships.
“I left the first XI match after a beer with Seabrook and got the message the seconds got over the line as well,” he said.
“It hasn’t set in yet. A lot of hard work has been put into this. When we signed Lachie Lewin as coach, he had a five year plan and we’ve been able to achieve it in four.
“We picked up some younger players who have come over from the footy club and that brought another level to the club.
“I’ve never seen a tighter group at the club than this group, full stop. All the work over the years has come together this year.”
On Saturday, the Cougars’ Russell Pollock Shield side made 191 as they were bowled out in the second last over of the day.
The Cougars had a lot of contributors on day one with Amitoj Kang top scoring with 40 as six players scored between 19 and 40.
Janetzki said at Seabrook’s ground 180 was a competitive score so they had been happy with what they achieved.
The Seabrook started day two at 0-1 after surviving one over on Saturday evening.
Seabrook started day two well and was seemingly on top at 0-40.
Janetzki said the group really responded from that point on.
“They got off to a cracking start and it would have been easy for our guys to drop their heads and wonder where the next wicket would come from,” he said.
“We got one and then two and then we rolled through them.”
Seabrook then slipped to 8-89.
The lower order showed some resistance and started hitting out, but the damage had been done with Seabrook bowled out of 123.
Dylan Payne took 4-21 for the Cougars, while Heshan Umendrea and Matthew Williams took three wickets each.
Payne was named player of the match.
Janetzki said the most pleasing thing was how they went about it
“It was a tremendous team effort,” he said. “The bowling unit, the side in general, made few mistakes.
“We spoke about it at training on Thursday night we had some of the 2001-02 first XI premiership players and they spoke about everyone doing the job, not relying on one or two good contributions.”
Janetzki said there would be plenty of celebrations at Kinder Reserve to celebrate the two premierships.
Then they star looking to playing in the Clark-Evans Shield after earning promotion.
“It is great for the club and it will help us take the next step. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
