by Samuel Laffy

Western Park (6/234) def. Drouin (9/231)
To win one flag at the highest level is a rare achievement, relying on the sustained cumulative effort of individuals willing to be selfless and fully commit to a greater team good.

They are hard-fought – especially in a sport such as cricket which sees players take to the field for hours on end – and hard to come by.
Indeed, many talented players go throughout their entire careers without having the chance to loft a premiership cup skyward.
To win back-to-back flags is all the more difficult. Maintaining a winning squad is challenging, as is keeping the hunger alive to achieve further success.
Moreso, opposition sides scheme and plot with vigour, picking apart players' games to identify any potential flaw in technique and feverishly crafting ploys to knock off the champions.
To clinch a threepeat? Almost unheard of in the WDCA.
And yet, Western Park pulled off such an achievement on the weekend on the back of one of their finest performances against arch-rivals Drouin, with the Warriors digging deep in a dramatic run chase to eke out a four-wicket win.
Many a team fall short chasing as they view the required runs as something that needs to be reached as soon as possible, batters playing shots they otherwise wouldn't attempting to hit boundaries that aren't required.
Western Park, however, knew that with 80 overs to bat, Drouin's 9/231 was eminently achievable provided they didn't lose wickets in flurries; strategising the innings into ten-over blocks to stay focused.
Gavin Roulston (36 from 61) and Jack Armour (24 off 71) ensured there would be no early wobbles against the testing bowling of Troy Lehman (0/32 from 10) and Lahiru Jayakody.
Content to focus on crease occupation and defence, they still pounced on the odd loose delivery – with Roulston's ability to pierce the off-side field showcased many a time – and their 50-run opening stand was crucial to the Warriors' long-term plans.
Joel Batson (30 off 113) and Greg Munro (who saved perhaps his best knock of the summer for the most important stage, making 52) adopted a similar approach, knowing that the longer they forced Drouin to bowl, the higher the odds they would tire.
Munro in particular was exquisite in his shot selection, adeptly using his feet to attack the spinners and waiting for width to scythe through the off-side field.
Gamini Kumara (3/45 from 18), Damon Healy (1/25 off 12), and James Wilcock (who delivered a lion-hearted 17-over spell on a freshly torn hamstring) nonetheless never relented with ball in hand, and they ensured that the Warriors had to grit their teeth and toil for each run, never allowing the batters to completely break the shackles.
Thanks to them, as the day wore on the required run rate steadily increased due to the trio's ability to consistently hit a line and length that often had the batters second guessing whether to attack or defend.
With the score 6/194 and the asking rate more than a run-a-ball, it seemed as though the Hawks had done what many before had failed to do and finally outlasted Western Park.
Alas – for Drouin supporters – Zane Harper then launched one of the more memorable sixes in the Warriors' storied history.
Quickly seizing on a slightly back-of-a-length delivery from Kumara, Harper hung back in his crease and hoicked Drouin's star all-rounder over the mid-wicket fence to the raucous cheers of his teammates.
Harper – whose competitive spirit is often hidden behind his laidback off-field demeanour – had famously never made a half-century in his senior career. Saturday changed that.
Batting with a freedom that belied the context of the game, "Z-Boi's" swashbuckling 57-ball 51* (in combination with Ben Clarke's rambunctious 18*) saw the Warriors over the line in the penultimate over of the game.
There are no signs that Western Park are in decline in division one heading into the off-season, leaving the rest of the competition (as they've done for the past few years) to head back to the chalkboard to somehow draw up a plan to curtail the dominance of the Warriors in the highest echelon of the WDCA.