THE dreaded 11-month losing streak is over for Williamstown CYMS in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division.
The CYs scored their first victory since February 26 last year with a 90-run win over Hoppers Crossing at Fearon Reserve on Saturday.
CYs player-coach Andrew Leetet lauded the spirit of his players to get a positive result when their backs were firmly against the wall.
"The boys have been great at sticking together," he said. "They could have dropped their heads, but they didn't and put the hard work in. Everyone is very relieved and happy with the win. Things fell into place for a change."
The CYs seemingly had no right to win the penultimate match of the season.
They were rock-bottom and coming up against a red-hot Cats' outfit purring in second spot.
To make matters worse, when CYs arrived at Garden Street on Saturday for their run chase, they found a ''sticky" wicket, lost nine overs to bat and noone would envisage they would score 300 runs in the innings.
That is exactly what the home side managed to do – chewing up the Cats' target of 229 and proceeding to pile on 318 in 85.1 overs.
The CYs came within four wickets of an outright result with the Cats limping to 6-67 in their second dig.
There were plenty of heroes for CYs, but none more so than all-rounder Janaka Siriwardana.
The former Jacana player followed his six wickets on day one with a stunning 130 with the bat.
"When he gets going, there's no stopping him," Leetet said. "He played with a bit of flair and got on top of the bowlers."
The importance of veteran Paul Murray and Brad Davies was not lost on Leetet.
Murray played a steadying hand at the top of the order when CYs lost consecutive wickets.
Davies, who made 70, turned the strike over for Siriwardana to play his shots.
The CYs have given themselves a long-shot chance of surviving in the top flight.
They face second-last Royal Park-Brunswick in the final round away at Ransford Oval and will leapfrog them with a win.
Meanwhile, at the upper end of the table, Yarraville Club and Spotswood have firmed as favourites for home semi-finals.
VTCA CRICKET
Senior division: Williamstown CYMS 318
(Siriwardana 130 Davies 70) d Hoppers Crossing 228 (Siriwardana 6-64 Leetet 2-80) and 6-67, Spotswood 247 (Sharma 107 Leddin 45) and 5-131 (Turner 56) d Royal Park-Brunswick 135 (Dickinson 6-44 Robertson 2-13), South Caulfield 139 (Bronca 4-45 Cullen 3-19 Boglis 2-29) and 57 (Bronca 7-31 Oosterhof 2-16) lt Yarraville Club (Cullen 25 Ion 25) and 2-79 (O'Keefe 39no).
North division: Strathmore 190 (Auciello 4-34 Guerrera 3-52 McCluskie 2-24) and 1-4 d Altona North 186; Footscray United 265 (Jeffey 118 Kardachi 40 Yates 36 Barker 29) and 2-33 d Sunshine United 224 (Jeffrey 4-59 Silva 3-57).
North A1: Laverton 169 (Swallow 46) and 6-16dec d Taylors Lakes 112 (Swallow 3-12 Delaney 3-28 Keenan 2-26) and 3-72.
West B1: Barkly Street Uniting 9-166 (Christensen 45 Campbell 28 Vo 3-26 Semerzidis 3-40 Levic 2-23) lt Kingsville Baptists 9-192 (Mosca 4-37 Danaher 2-41); St Andrews 106 (Kriebardis 4-25 Markovski 2-16 Grant 2-22 lt Seddon 6-126 (Oldham 44 Grant 36 Buttigieg 4-41); Altona Roosters 184 (Roach 48 Dine 26) and 7-199 (Dine 48 Self 34) d Sunshine YCW 137 (Lewis 5-36 Uppal 3-16 Dine 2-58).
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