CYMS captain Ben Knaggs has played in four straight grand finals but glory still tasted as sweet as ever at No. 1 Oval on Sunday evening.
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The Cougars completed a dominant RSL Whitney Cup season on the weekend of March 23 and 24 by downing RSL Colts by four wickets in the decider.
A fantastic five-wicket haul from Bailey Edmunds, the competition's leading wicket-taker, and Ben Patterson's composed half-century proved decisive as the Cougars got one back on Colts after the men in red won last season's title.
Colts was bowled out for 159 on Saturday and CYMS reached the target in 70 overs with four wickets to spare.
The weekend marked CYMS' third premiership in the past five seasons and Knaggs said there was no sign of slowing up.
"I don't think the feeling ever changes," the captain said.
"The motivation is there. You want to win and keep winning. You want to keep this feeling.
"Winning the Whitney Cup is the biggest adrenaline rush and the best feeling and to do it with 11 or 12 of your best mates, you can't get any better than that."
Edmunds was the star of day one as he took 5-42 from a mammoth 22 overs.
The opening bowler claimed the crucial top-order wickets of Jason Ryan, Cooper Giddings and Marty Jeffrey - the latter with an absolute peach that rocked leg stump - before knocking over the tail.
The haul made it 34 wickets for one of the biggest characters in the competition. Knaggs said it was satisfying to see after the amount of nervous energy Edmunds spent in the lead-up to the decider.
"'Buzz' has got a lot of voices in his head and I think he only got three hours sleep the night before (Saturday) so for him to come out and get a five-fa would have been a big relief for him," Knaggs said.
"But I've got to shout out out whole bowling attack. Aydan Hunt, Patty Nelson, Matt Purse, Ben Patterson and 'Buzz'; the whole year they have been instrumental in us getting to this point.
"Everyone took wickets and I think everyone in our bowling attack was in the top 10 wicket-takers for the whole year so that shows how strong our attack was."
Knaggs was another key part of that attack and he took 3/32 from 16.3 overs on Saturday in another decisive performance with the ball.
Colts captain Jeffrey made a tough 41 from 88 balls during a first day of play which was briefly paused due to rain while Chris Morton made a late 28 not out to get Colts past 150.
Conditions were fine on Sunday and Patterson, normally one of the hardest-hitting and quick-scoring players in the competition, made 62 not out from 106 balls to guide CYMS to victory after the Cougars fell to 5/83 at one point.
CYMS won the COVID-affected 2019/20 premiership after being top when the season was abandoned prior to finals while they defeated Colts in the 2021/22 decider. The men in red defeated the Cougars in both the 2020/21 and 2022/23 seasons.
"It's an incredible feeling. Especially against Colts," Knaggs said.
"That's our fourth grand final in a row. I guess they were two-one up in grand final situations so it was nice to get one back on them.
"They're an incredible side but we just gritted it out and batted a long time today. To show that grit and fight was pretty impressive ... Ben Patterson was unreal with the bat today and Bailey was with the ball yesterday.
"It was a good all-round performance."
Greg Buckley, Colts' six-wicket grand final hero last season, took 3/24 on Sunday during a big 21 over spell while Ben Taylor took 2/35 from 20.
Colts captain Jeffrey said, obviously, "it's not ideal" to lose a grand final but he was proud of the fight his side showed against a CYMS side which had been a clear number one in 2023/24.
The only matches the Cougars had lost this season prior to the weekend were the MoneyQuest Megahit Twenty20 grand final and a mid-season match against Colts in which they were missing some key players.
"I think all of us from RSL can hold our heads high," Jeffrey said.
"We gave it all we could. We had a simple game plan and I think we executed it in some good patches.
"With the bat, we were probably 20 or 30 runs short and you look back with eight overs left in the day (on Sunday) and those runs make it a really close game.
"We threw all we could but hats off to 'Patto', he batted really well."
The first grade triumph was a much-needed one for CYMS after the club had earlier lost the second and third grade deciders.
The RSL Pinnington Cup grand final was the pick of the bunch as the Newtown Hawks won by one run in an all-time classic while Macquarie White defeated CYMS in the RSL Kelly Cup third grade grand final on Saturday.
The Newtown Tigers defeated Newtown Everest in the RSL Dawson Cup third grade consolation grand final.
Full reports on the lower grade grand finals will appear online at dailyliberal.com.au later this week.