Brierly-Christ Church, East Warrnambool and Wesley-CBC were awarded premierships last week after COVID-19 forced officials to cancel all three senior grand finals.

That doesn't mean any of these teams deserve any less credit.

This should not be a premiership with an asterisk next to it because no grand final was played.

The ruling is crystal clear - the teams which finished higher on the home-and-away season ladder were ruled victors.

How else could the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association have found an outcome? Could it have done so more fairly?

The answer is no.

It had its ups and downs, but Brierly-Christ Church was the best team in the association.

Woodford was a close second, Russells Creek's best was enough to topple anyone but it lacked a bit of consistency.

On the day, the Nick Butters-led Eels could well have beaten the Bulls.

But under these unprecedented circumstances, Brierly-Christ Church earned the right to say it was the best team of the season with its performances over the course of a challenging six-month season.

It finished clear on top of the ladder by more than two games.

Speak to most captains or coaches this season and they'll tell you the same thing - the Bulls were the team to beat.

Yes, it lost both the Twenty20 and one-day grand finals and there were questions over its ability to get the job done under pressure.

But to win 14 games - with three draws due to wash-outs - and lose just one in the season proper is a phenomenal effort.

To sit more than two games clear of Creek atop the ladder is enough to suggest Matt Love's team is the best in the division.

There's no ifs, buts or maybes about it.

So, Brierly-Christ Church's first premiership should never be viewed with an invisible asterisk.

To do so just wouldn't be cricket.

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