The Lakers became the first club to sweep the Twenty20, one-day and two-day competitions in back-to-back years by defeating Oak Flats in the two-day final over the weekend. 

The victory was a hard-fought affair, with the Lakers making the most of tricky batting conditions in the last match to be played at Croome Cricket Oval.

Lake Illawarra captain Mark Ulcigrai was extremely proud of his players and said the victory was reward for all the hard work put in over the past two years. 

"It feels excellent, especially with two different sides that we've had over the last two years," Ulcigrai said. "It's good to see guys that are finishing up now and guys that have just come into the side having that success, so it's good to see a bit of growth in our side.

"A few of the guys are hanging up the boots, Scott Ulcigrai, Luke Fleming and Tode Biracoski likely won't be back next year. It means a lot to those guys and then the young kids, hopefully they can continue on. 

"We have 16-year-olds that have now won six trophies. It took me a while to get my first trophy, for those guys to come into first grade and get six trophies in two years, I think they just don't know how to lose."

With the clouds parting on Saturday morning following Friday night's deluge, Oak Flats won the toss and sent the Lakers into bat. 

Lake Illawarra scratched their way to 130, Ulcigrai top-scoring with a crucial 36 batting at number eight. The Lakers were able to claim three late wickets to reduce the Rats to 3-37 at stumps and leave the match hanging in the balance at the midway point. 

The Lakers' grand final experience shone through on Sunday morning, with Ulcigrai striking early to claim the first of his four wickets. From there, Lake Illawarra rolled on, bowling Oak Flats out for 95 to secure a first-innings lead. 

The Rats fought hard to pull off a come-from-behind outright victory, however it was not to be, the two captains shaking hands with Lake Illawarra 9-165 late on Sunday afternoon. 

Read more: Pattinson drives Vics to Shield title

"One-hundred and thirty is a tricky total, I thought we did very well to get to 130. Runs on the board, in a final, it's pressure, it plays on your mind. To have them three down overnight, the match was very even, then we came out this morning and picked up four wickets really quickly.

"We just took our chances that came to us."

Oak Flats captain Scott McAndrew was proud of his team's effort throughout the match, but acknowledged their batting let the side down. 

"To get them out for 130, I couldn't ask for anything more from our bowlers," McAndrew said. "It's on our batters, we had the best of the conditions to bat and we just succumbed to a bit of the pressure, some shots were not up to standard.

"We should have chased that, we've only got ourselves to blame."

While you're with us the Illawarra Mercury is offering sport readers 20% off an annual digital subscription. Sign up to stay up to date with all the local sports you love for only $3.00 a week. Terms and conditions apply.