Tara Murray
Williamstown Imperials put a plan in place at the start of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Roy Picone Shield season and it paid off on Sunday.
The Imperials added a couple of key pieces to their squad as they looked to build and try and move through the ranks.
It only took one season, with the Imperials winning the division 3 premiership on Sunday, defeating Maribyrnong Park St Mary’s in the grand final.
President Michael Skinner was ecstatic at the result.
“It’s something that we worked for,” he said. “Our goal was to try and build that camaraderie around the club.
“We wanted to build through the juniors and bring in the right players to try and win premierships and to get through the grades.
“The plan has come to fruition. I’ve been president for 10 years and this is the second flag we’ve won.
“This is my last year as president, it’s a nice way to go out.”
Skinner had more than a few nerves on the weekend as the grand final went down to the wire.
The Lions batted on day one and were bowled out for 188 in the 63rd over.
Skinner said the total was a bit more than they would have liked.
“We were on top early,” he said. “Jason McGann batted as an experienced campaigner does.
“They put a few more on the board than we would have liked. About 200 was par score on that ground.”
Ryan Schaufler took 4-25 for the Imperials to be the pick of their bowlers.
The Imperials had a less than ideal start with the bat, losing three wickets late on day one to put the game in the balance.
Skinner said they spoke about what they needed to do early on day two to take back control of the game.
“We spoke about it before play,” he said. “Bat for 40 minutes to an hour and not lose any wickets, it sets us up.
“Oscar Florentine did an amazing job staying with our captain, Andrew Hendry, who made 50 odd (61).
“They batted for a long time”
The Imperials lost two wickets in the 20 minutes before tea, including Hendry, but that brought Tom Burton to the crease.
Burton as he has all season was the key for the Imperials batting line up. He would finish 59 not out in a man of the match performance.
The Imperials managed to get over the line, finishing 7-189.
“He didn’t play a false shot and really stuck to the game plan,” Skinner said of Burton.
“Tom is Andrew’s best mate and when we got Andrew to the club, we thought we had a good chance of getting Tom.
“We got him down here with the junior girls program last year and he knew what the club was about.”
The Imperials will now move into division 2, a challenge that Skinner said they were looking forward to.
“That is our goal to play higher level cricket,” he said. “We can not rest on laurels.
“We want to keep as many players as possible and keep improving this group to do what we need to do to be competitive in division 2.”
