4th Grade
4th grade have made the whole club proud, beating Scarborough by 5 wickets to claim the Premiership at Breckler Park.
Aaron McCall won the toss and chose to bowl on a green wicket, with early wickets hard to come by, but scoring proving to be difficult.
The game went to tea delicately poised at 2 for 110, with James Scott and Jarod Bridge the wicket-takers.
The Dragons turned the screw in the last session, taking the last 8 wickets for 31 runs to bowl the Seagulls out for 152 after 74.3 overs.
McCall led the way exceptionally well and saved his best bowling effort for the last game of the year, claiming 5 for 38 from 26.3 overs, with Grigson (3/10 from 6 overs), Bridge (1/18 from 9 overs), and Scott (1/26 from 11 overs) all providing support.
Raghav Raj and nightwatchman Bridge had the unenviable task of surviving 3 overs before stumps, but got through unscatched.
Sunday morning didn’t start so well, with Raj falling LBW from the first ball of the day.
Kris Elliot came to the crease and looked in good touch, but was forced to retire on 8 after slipping on the pitch and picking up an achilles injury.
Bridge then edged into the cordon to leave the Dragons at 2 for 20, with Elliot retired hurt.
Matthew Gleeson and Grigson went about the rebuild task, with plenty of hard graft in difficult conditions in a third wicket partnership of 49, ended when Gleeson was bowled by a mullygrubber for 19.
Keegan de Koker then fell first ball in the same manner to leave the Dragons at 5 for 98, still 55 runs in arrears of their target.
Michael Hardie joined Grigson and the pair came up clutch to see the Dragons over the line, with Grigson ending 81 not out and Hardie 25 not out.
Grigson claimed player of the match honours with a special effort to cap off an unbelievable season, scoring 560 runs at an average of 93.33 and taking 9 wickets at an average of 6.78.
The club most recently won a fourth grade premiership in 1936, when it was still known as West Perth, but this is the club’s first fourth grade premiership as the Willetton District Cricket Club.
Under 17’s
Under 17’s fell short at the final hurdle, losing to Perth by 62 runs at Fletcher Park.
The Demons batted first and posted a competitive score of 8 for 204 from their 50 overs, with Kai D’Souza (3/35 from 9 overs), Lawson Baker (3/37 from 10 overs), and Ajit Pal Singh (1/25 from 6 overs) all in the wickets, with Brayden Lee (0/25 from 10 overs) keeping it tight through the middle.
Disaster struck early in the chase, with the competition’s leading run scorer Ethan Smith run out attempting a second for 9.
Lee (28), Blake Third (20), and Baker (23) all made starts, but the innings lacked a big score, and the Dragons ended up falling short at 142 from 42.1 overs.
A grand final appearance from 5th position on the ladder is a great result for the Under 17’s, and several boys look to have exciting futures for the club in senior cricket.