Twenty-four hours after losing to Bailey's Bay in the Open Knockout final at White Hill field, Western Stars yesterday celebrated an historic moment when they captured their first-ever league championship with a comfortable five-wicket victory over Nationals at National Sport Club.

With their closest challengers Bay going down to a shock defeat against Cleveland County, Stars seized the opportunity to wrap the title up with a week to spare -- finally accomplishing their goal when Jeff Richardson scored the winning stroke in style by hammering spinner Bruce Perinchief for six over long-on to finish on 95 not out, just short of a deserved century.

It was a day that saw the Richardson family running the show when it came to heroics. Prior to Jeff's scintillating performance with the bat, his younger brother Wayne wrecked Nationals with his spin bowling by taking seven wickets for 45 off 22.5 overs with four maidens.

After the two spearheaded the visitors to victory it was party time with the team capping off the triumph by taking a victory lap around the field with the club's flag hoisted high in the air.

Stars' skipper Gary Brangman could not hold back his joy when the run was over.

"We are very happy indeed to have finally won this title for our club, it has been years of waiting,'' he said.

"I think Western Stars managed to pull it off because we went into the season far more organised than we have been in the past, the fact that we appointed a manager was one of the main reasons we were successful.

"There were lots of other reasons why we did well, among them is the fact that we really wanted to play, we played consistently as a unit and we made a huge improvement in our fielding,'' added the skipper.

But Western Stars went through some periods of anxiety in the game, especially once opening batsman and skipper of Nationals Mark Ray settled down and gave the bowling attack plenty of concern.

Ray hammered 98 before falling to Richardson after giving a catch to Jeff Richardson on the cover-point boundary.

Ray featured in two good stands, first with opening partner Gary Knight (18), when they added 74 and then Ray and his brother John (seven) put on 48 for the third wicket.

However, once Mark was out with the score on 146 for the loss of four wickets it was not long before Richardson dominated with his leg breaks and ripped through the remaining batsmen -- although Lloyd Fray offered some resistance with 16. Mark Ray faced 150 balls, batted for 187 minutes and struck 10 fours, one five and one six.

Opener Allan Brangman was the other bowler for Stars with more than one wicket, taking two for 53 off 18 overs with two maidens.

Stars received a severe jolt when openers Mike Jones (four) and Anthony Foggo (five) were dismissed with only 16 runs scored. There was even more concern shortly afterward when Cleon Scotland (five) was back in the pavilion as well after becoming the second victim of spinner Bruce Perinchief who astonishingly opened the bowling.

However, with John Ray unable to bowl because of an injury the limitations of the attack became obvious and once Chris Wright tired, the runs began to flow -- although Perinchief remained bothersome at the other end for a while.

Richardson and Arnold Manders showed their true class from the outset, taking little time in steering the team from 30 for three to the century mark but with the score on 112, Manders was out after giving Perinchief a sharp return catch.

This is where Richardson took over full charge of the proceedings, showing no mercy against the slower bowling of Perinchief in particular. He and Anthony Manders (four) added 33 for the fifth wicket and then Richardson was joined by his skipper Brangman who quietly held up his end while Richardson went wild at the opposite end and polished off the remaining runs by making fierce drives to the mid-wicket boundary.

Richardson faced just 68 balls, batted for 108 minutes and slammed seven sixes and nine fours. Perinchief was top bowler for Nationals with three for 81 off 14.4 overs.

WAYNE RICHARDSON -- Seven for 45.

CHAMPIONS -- Western Stars players and supporters join in yesterday's celebrations as the club won the league championship for the first time.

MASTER BLASTER -- Jeff Richardson pulls through mid-wicket during his explosive knock of 95 not out, which clinched the league championship for Western Stars yesterday.