WDCA senior awards: Nestles captain Jacob Hetherington 'honoured' to claim top individual honour

The Nestles captain said he was surprised but delighted to be recognised as the division one player of the year after a thrilling count at the Warrnambool Bowls Club where he won by one vote from three-time winner Mark Murphy from Brierly-Christ Church.

Hetherington secured the three votes to clinch the win in the final round of the season.

"It was a tight leaderboard by the end of it so I'm pretty surprised but I'm really honoured to have that cap off the night," he said.

"It's exciting to win and I'm honoured and humbled. There's some great players who've won it before me like Mark (Murphy) and Nestles players like Brett Eldridge and Ian Wright. Others like Cam Williams too so it's a real honour and I'm humbled to be part of it all."

Nestles' Geoff Williams, Russells Creek batter Shashan Silva and West Warrnambool's Joe Nyikos rounded out the top-five.

He added the award was a reflection of his "amazing" teammates around him and the club, which had supported him throughout the season.

The Factory all-rounder said he felt he had played his role through the middle-order and as a tidy medium-pace bowler all season, scoring 230 runs, scoring three half-centuries and averaging 33, while with the ball took 17 wickets.

"I did think I had a reasonable season with bat and ball but with having a strong team with batters and bowlers I thought my role had gone down a bit and shared out which has been great," he said.

He added while winning the award was something he'd reflect on fondly the division one premiership on Saturday was the one thing on his mind.

"That's the main goal this year," he said.

"As much as it is great to have individual accolades the team one is the one I want."

Northern Raiders overseas gun Jack Burnham was recognised for his season by winning the batting aggregate and batting average, Russell Creek tweaker Shiv Kumara won the bowling average while Allansford-Panmure's Simon Richardson won the bowling aggregate.

Division two

Best and fairest: Chamika Fernando (15 votes); Batting aggregate: Mitch Lang (526 runs); Batting average: Chamika Fernando (54.50); Bowling wickets: Tom Wright (24 wickets); Bowling average: Tim Cain (7.19)

Division three

Best and fairest: Nick Sinnott (14 votes); Batting aggregate: Ben Parkinson (568 runs); Batting average: Pat Sinnott (83.50); Bowling wickets: Chris Woodbridge and Matthew Rook (both 22 wickets); Bowling average: Chris Woodbridge (4.91); Wicketkeeper award: Adam Carmen (15 catches, two stumpings, two run outs assisted)

Division four

Best and fairest: Paul Ryan; Batting aggregate: Paul Ryan (537 runs); Batting average: Luke Robertson (98.25); Bowling aggregate: Geoff Pulham (22 wickets); Bowling average: Dean Hilton (7.07); Wicketkeeper award: Simon Dart (12 catches, two stumpings, one run out assisted)

Allansford-Panmure gun Shannon Johnson says opportunities for female cricketers in the region is growing each year and believes the Warrnambool competition has a bright future.

Johnson, who also represented Victoria in the Indigenous championships this season, won the association's women's player of the year on the night after a stellar year for the Gators.

"It's been a blast this season, I love all the girls I play with, even the rep team in those three games," she said.

"This competition is building each year, I think it was my third season now.

"It's immensely changed, there's extra teams coming in so it is exciting and building well."

After also taking out the WDCA women's representative player of the year, Johnson said playing for Victoria was also a tremendous honour.

"It means a lot, I only started learning about my Indigenous side of the family and it's been a big step taking on that," she said.

"I loved going, I wouldn't take it back, it was a great experience.

"They were all a good bunch of girls to play with."

Women's representative player of the year: Shannon Johnson; Batting aggregate: Mikaela Doran (309 runs); Batting average: Mikaela Doran (61.80); Bowling aggregate: Jessica Walsh (12 wickets); Bowling average: Jessica Walsh (5.08); Wicketkeeping award: Jessica Quinlivan (six catches, three run out assisted)

Spirit of Cricket: Hawkesdale; Club Championship: Russells Creek; Rookie of the year: Jackson Hansford (Spring Creek); Glenn Denning Award: Bailey Jenkinson (North Warrnambool Eels); Umpire of the year: Ashley Jennings; Roger Henderson Service Award: Gary Stonehouse; Ray Drew MVP Rep Cricket Award: Geoff Williams; WDCA life members: Paul 'Wally' Sheehan and Peter Baulch; WDCA legend: Colin Hurford

Melbourne Country Week players: Geoff Williams; Cameron Williams (captain); Jack Burnham; Chris Bant; Ben Threlfall; Bailey Jenkinson; Zavier Mungean; Todd Lamont; Ethan Boyd; Joe Nyikos; Matthew Petherick; Joe Kenna; Craig Britten

The Standard Team of the Year: Alastair Templeton (West Warrnambool); Jack Burnham (Northern Raiders); Mark Murphy (Brierly-Christ Church); Geoff Williams (Nestles); Chris Bant (Allansford-Panmure); Rukshan Weerasinghe (Russells Creek); Jacob Hetherington (Nestles, captain); Cameron Williams (Russells Creek, wicket-keeper); Simon Richardson (Allansford-Panmure); Xavier Beks (Dennington); Craig Britten (Russells Creek); Shiwantha Kumara (Russells Creek)

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.