The progression of their juniors is one of the positives Mornington will take away from the 2019/2020 season.
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Not figuring in the finals, they wrapped up their season on Saturday with an upset win over second-placed Court House.
It was an albeit severely undermanned Court House with the side only managing to scramble eight players. Mornington keeper Andrew Johns said that does detract from the win a bit but did point out that they still had a number of quality players.
"Farran (Lamb) batted well for 45 on the back of 99 the previous night (in the Twenty20)," Johns said.
The Court House skipper virtually held his sides' innings together as they were dismissed for 86.
"Our skipper Rhyce (Kliendienst) bowled beautifully," Johns said.
"He bamboozled a couple of their batsmen with pearlers."
He finished with 4-10 and bowled as well as Johns said he has seen him bowl all year.
He was "ably supported by the rest of the players", Ben Hennessy and Alasdair Hewitt both chipping in with a wicket.
Kliendienst then fittingly saw them over the line for the win with three overs to spare.
He finished five no with Hennessy unbeaten on 16.
They were looking a bit shaky at 2-19 but Justin Carter (23) and Joshua Langdon (12) steadied things.
Still needing 37 when he got out, Johns said he was "sitting back and willing every run".
He said the win was good reward for the effort the players have been putting in all year.
They had a lot of juniors step up this season, but the likes of son Henry, Langdon, Hewitt and AJ King held their own and grew in confidence over the season.
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"Batting at the top of the order Henry was at the start of the year a bit daunted facing some of these quick blokes," he said.
By the end of the season he was going out and confidently facing them.
Cooper Blinman is another young talent. He impressed against Albion in the penultimate round.
At 43, Johns is at the other end of the spectrum but he is excited to see how the young players come on over the next couple of years.
If they can keep them together they should be in good shape.
