Russells Creek beats North Warrnambool to notch fourth Warrnambool and District Cricket Association flag in five seasons

The Matthew Petherick-led club stunned North Warrnambool Eels in a 79-run whitewash on Saturday, dedicating the dominant display to late club legend Glenn Kelson.

Petherick told The Standard post-game the victory was important to the entire club.

"It's nice to build that dynasty a little bit. We want to be remembered as one of the best teams," he said.

"Four in the past five years go a long way in that I think and it's obviously a really nice feeling."

Petherick, who has notched two premierships since taking the captaincy from wicketkeeper-batsman Cam Williams before the 2020-21 campaign, said Kelson's passing was a motivator.

"We really wanted to drive that home and win one for him and I'm so glad we did because he deserved everything," the schoolteacher said.

"He was so big for the club and that one was for him.

"It wasn't just Creek, it was the whole association and Warrnambool as a whole. He was a well-known man and that one was huge for the club and just a fitting way to get one for him."

Williams was Creek's top scorer and set the platform for the success, blasting 45 before Eels youngster Nick Robertson claimed a vital wicket to breathe life back into his side. Creek was at 1-102 but found itself 5-106 in the space of just two overs.

Robertson, a medium-fast bowler, turned the tables with three quick wickets and was at one stage on a hat-trick but eventual man of the match Jimmy Elford dug in to help Creek cruise to a 171-run total.

"The plan was to set a good platform early on and not lose wickets. We achieved that and obviously in the back end of the innings, we talked about how we have some big hitters down there but I don't think it was big hitting as such," Petherick said.

"It was just running really hard between the wickets and I just think we almost took the game on. We didn't go into our shells and soak up dot balls, but we just pushed those ones and we took risky runs.

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"It's something we haven't done a lot with all year."

The skipper, who was at his economical best across his five-over spell, said winning the toss and electing to bat helped his men to victory.

"I'll be honest and say it does help," he laughed.

"It helped last year and this year too. It's as simple as that. It's a 50-50 and if you win it, you're not so much ahead of the game but you do get the better of the conditions."

All but one of Creek's bowlers were able to grab wickets.

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